Egypt will extend a night-time curfew by a further two weeks, in a bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Information Minister Osama Heikal said on Thursday, citing the rise of infections. The measure will be enforced from 8:00pm to 4:00am, from Sunday until the end of the month.
However, the minister said that “tourism and flights to coastal cities with the lowest infection levels will be restarted from July.” It is not clear when flights to the capital, Cairo, will resume. The areas opening up are southern Sinai, where the resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh and Dahab are located, and Red Sea province, home to the Hurghada and Marsa Alam resorts, as well as Marsa Matrouh on the Mediterranean, according to the cabinet statement.
Since March, the authorities have halted air traffic, shuttered schools and closed tourist and religious sites to slow the spread of the virus among Egypt’s 100 million people. The Health Ministry has so far recorded 1,342 deaths among the 38,284 confirmed cases, AFP said.
The government has been gradually loosening lockdown measures, allowing hotels to partially reopen and resuming some of the public services it had suspended.