Egypt stops exporting alcohol, face masks for three months: Trade minister

CAIRO - 17 March 2020: Trade and Industry Minister Neveen Gamea has issued two decisions on Tuesday stopping the exports of face masks, anti-infective supplies as well as alcohol and all its derivatives for three months.

The decisions come into effect as of the date of their publishing in the official gazette.

Gamea said in a statement that both decisions aim to provide the citizens with their needs of these products amid the precautionary measures that the Egyptian government is adopting to protect the citizens from any probable repercussion of the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The decisions were taken after coordination with the Health Ministry and companies specialized in manufacturing the products, she said.

The move comes after large amounts of these products were found to be exported, over the past few days, to the countries witnessing COVID-19 outbreak, a matter that badly affected the quantities of these products in the local market, she added.