Egypt to allow open-air wedding parties starting Sept. 21: Cabinet

CAIRO – 14 September 2020: As Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli on Monday headed a meeting on COVID-19, the government committee on managing the novel virus announced a set of decisions, including resuming open-air wedding ceremonies starting September 21.

This comes as the company has witnessed a significant decline in coronavirus cases in August, allowing the country to resume international flights and lifting curfew.

Wedding parties will only be allowed in open-air halls in tourist institutions and hotels that have obtained the government’s health certificate amid the coronavirus crisis, Cabinet’s spokesman Nader Saad said.

A maximum of 300 people will be allowed to attend these parties, he added.

The decision is also applied on meetings and conferences; the halls will only operate with 50 percent of their capacities, Saad said, with a maximum of 150 people.

Cultural fairs can also be held, starting with the Alexandria International Book Fair, in open air and only 50 percent of their capacity can be used.

Also, training of second-class football clubs will be allowed to resume, as well as sport activities including the use of swimming pools.

The resumption of adult education activities and the reopening of literacy classes are included in the plan.

Also, the Islamic funeral prayers can be resumed at uncovered halls that belong to the mosques.

The Egyptian Health Ministry said late on Sunday that 148 new coronavirus cases and 20 deaths due to the novel virus were reported, raising the total number since the beginning of the outbreak in the country  to 100,856 and 5,627 respectively.

As many as 788 patients were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care, taking the number of recovered cases to 83,261 so far, the spokesman said.

Since early last month, the daily number of new cases dropped below 200, except for the last week in August, registering a record drop in daily reported cases on August 22 with only 89 new infections, the lowest daily tally since April.

However, Egyptian officials have repeatedly urged caution to avoid a second wave of the pandemic, particularly with the advent of autumn and the beginning of the academic year.

Egypt reported the first confirmed case of the novel virus on February 14, while the first fatality was recorded on March 8.

In August, after five months of almost total suspension of Muslim’s Friday prayer due to spread of the novel virus, Prime Minister Madbouli said big mosques that can maintain coronavirus preventive measures can receive worshippers for the Friday prayer.

Muslims go in large numbers, especially in Arab countries, to perform the Friday prayer every week at the afternoon in mosques, instead of the Zohr prayer, the second among five prayers a day.

In March, the Cabinet announced closing mosques to help curb coronavirus, but few months later it said worshippers will be allowed to perform daily prayers, excluding the Friday prayers and occasional prayers in feasts.