Coronavirus: Cases in Egypt rise to 150

CAIRO - 16 March 2020: The number of cases infected with Coronavirus (Covid 2019) in Egypt reached 150, including 80 Egyptian nationals, announced Egyptian Minister of Information Osama Heikal in remarks to the media at the headquarters of the Cabinet downtown Cairo on Monday.

He added that the Cabinet’’s decision to suspend the international flights as of Thursday noon, March 18, 2020, came as a preventive measure to protect the lives of the Egyptians.

The Minister called on the Egyptian to be serious and vigilant in dealing with the crisis and be

In a press conference at the Cabinet, Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced that Egypt will be suspending aviation movement in all airports starting March 19 until March 31.

He added all hotels in Egypt will launch a wide sterilization campaign during the suspension period. Madbouly explained that this suspension would cost Egypt losses up to LE 2.25 billion in both of tourism and aviation sectors; “However we value the Egyptians' health over anything else,” Prime Minster said.

Earlier, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi directed to suspend study at schools and universities across the country for two weeks as of Sunday, March 15, as part of the country's comprehensive strategy to combat Coronavirus.

Coronavirus has forced many countries to suspend their flights around the globe after the infected cases reached 174,605 people and 6,685 deaths were reported to date. On March 10, 2020, the virus was announced a global pandemic by the World Health Organization.

“WHO is deeply concerned by the alarming levels of the coronavirus spread, severity & inaction, & expects to see the number of cases, deaths & affected countries climb even higher. Therefore, we made the assessment that COVID19 can be characterized as a pandemic,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesusin in a press conference.