Cairo criminal courts resume working after 45-day hiatus due to COVID-19

CAIRO - 3 May 2020: Cairo criminal courts resume working on Sunday after a 45-day hiatus due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus (COVID-19), as per a decision by Chairperson of Cairo Court of Appeals Badry Abdel Fattah

More than 8,000 lawsuits were adjourned over this period, including a large number of pending cases, with several defendants on remand.

Since May 1, the criminal courts have started exceptionally for only two days a week to consider time-sensitive cases.

On March 15, 2020, Egypt’s judicial institutions suspended court trials nationwide due to the COVID- 19 pandemic, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Justice.

Egypt recorded 298 new coronavirus cases and nine deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total infected patients of COVID-19 to 6,193 and the total deaths to 415, according to the Health Ministry's daily briefing on Saturday.