Sisi phones Conte, affirms Egypt’s support for Italy against COVID-19 pandemic

CAIRO - 3 April 2020: President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi made on Friday a phone call with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, expressing his sincere condolences for the loss of the Italian victims of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), said Egyptian presidential spokesperson Bassam Radi in a statement.

President Sisi affirmed Egypt’s solidarity with the government and people of Italy to curb the spread of the pandemic, expressing his country’s complete readiness to provide the possible medical support for Italy amid the current difficult circumstances, Radi added.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte expressed his deep appreciation for the Egyptian support to his country, affirming Italy's keenness to enhance joint cooperation with Egypt within the framework of international efforts to combat the virus.

On March 22, 2020, An EgyptAir flight carrying medical supplies landed in the Italian Malpensa Airport to provide the Italian authority medical aid to fight the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, the Egyptian national newspaper al-Akhbar reported.

The medical aid includes more than one million medical face masks and will be sent to Lombardy region, which has been locked down since March 8, 2020, in northern Italy.

As yet, Italy has recorded more than 115,000 infected cases of coronavirus and 13,915 deaths. Meanwhile, the global cases infected with the virus reached more than one million people and 55,195 deaths were reported so far.