Marsa Alam airport receives flight from Saudi Arabia carrying 300 stranded Egyptians

CAIRO – 15 May 2020: An exceptional flight from Saudi Arabia has arrived on Friday at Marsa Alam International Airport, in southeastern Egypt, carrying 300 Egyptians who have been stranded in the Kingdom since the coronavirus crisis started few months ago.

The arrivals have undergone the preventive procedures in order to be moved to hotel for a 14-day quarantine.

Since the coronavirus crisis started, EgyptAir, the Egyptian flag carrier, has operated many exceptional flights to several countries, including the US, UK, Maldives, Kuwait, South Sudan and Kenya, to bring back stranded Egyptians abroad.

On April 22nd, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi noted that around 3,500 Egyptians are stranded abroad over coronavirus, affirming that authorities are committed to bringing them back despite "hard circumstances".

Egypt has suspended flight movement since 19 March, except for cargo flights, charter flights to enable tourists’ return, ambulance flights and internal flights.

The Health Ministry on Thursday said 398 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Egypt recently, bringing the total number of cases to 10,829.

The ministry also reported 15 deaths due to the novel virus, bringing the total number to 571. World Health Organization’s representative in Egypt John Jabbour said in mid-April WHO is looking at the cause of the high coronavirus rate of deaths in the northeastern African country.

Also, the test results of 3,133 people turned from positive to negative, the ministry said, including 2,626 people who totally recovered. It added that 140 patients left hospitals.

This is the highest number in the daily coronavirus cases since Monday May 11, according to the official figures provided by the ministry. On Friday and Saturday, the country recorded 495 and 488 coronavirus positive patients, its highest daily count so far. On May 3, the country reported 272 cases, its lowest this month.

As Egypt recently saw a surge in the number of the coronavirus cases, Health Minister Hala Zayed on Saturday said the state authorities have responded to the coronavirus crisis and made all efforts to curb its spread, blaming the surge on the behavior of many citizens.