Starting Wednesday (25 March), Egypt has declared a curfew from 7 pm to 6 am in the country to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The Prime Minister of Egypt, Mr Mostafa Madbouly, said that those who infringe the measure will be punished under the country’s emergency laws.
From 19 March until the end of month, flights have been suspended at Egyption airports, and it will now be extended for an additional two weeks until 15 April.
Additionally, Egypt has also applied limits on gathering outdoors by closing schools and universities. Initially, these education institutes were supposed to be closed from 14 March for two weeks, but Mr Madbouly revealed that the closure will now be extended for another two weeks.
Besides that, shops other than food stores and pharmacies will also have to close their doors at 5 pm, two hours earlier than their previous operating hours, as well as on weekends.
During the curfew period, most of the public services and government offices will also be closed to the public. In addition, a measure to restrict the number of government employees going to work will be extended until mid-April.
According to a statement from the country’s cabinet office, it said that the government has also allocated one billion Egyptian pounds (S$91.82 million) to the health ministry in order to get supplies.
Other measures that were imposed by the Egyptian government to contain the spreading of the deadly coronavirus include ordering all eateries, shopping malls, sports clubs as well as entertainment venues like nightclubs to shut from 7pm to 6am since 19 March.
On top of that, religious centers like mosques and churches have also been shut temporarily.
Egypt has so far 366 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 19 deaths.
