Egypt operates exceptional flight to bring back nationals from London

CAIRO - 2 April 2020: "The State-owned airlines EgyptAir operated on Thursday an exceptional flight to Heathrow Airport to bring back the Egyptian nationals stranded in London," said the company in a statement.

On March 31, the company operated another exceptional flight to bring back the Egyptians who wished to leave London.

A flight from London will be operated on March 31st, from Heathrow at 3:00 pm
for the Egyptians wishing to return to Cairo.
Buy your ticket through our call Center 1717 -or 090070000, from the TB3 airport office, from EGYPTAIR in London, or our website https://t.co/FIhPtJ4yzj pic.twitter.com/qQY9nXIqP9

— EGYPTAIR (@EGYPTAIR) March 27, 2020

The company operated a number of exceptional flights to bring Egyptian nationals back home after Egypt suspended the international aviation on March 19 until April 14, 2020, amid the state’s protective measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.

All arrivals from abroad will be quarantined for 14-28 days, according to the latest measures announced by the Cabinet. Hundreds of Egyptian expatriates returned home from many countries including the United Kingdom, the United States of America, some European countries, and other Arab states.

The Egyptian Health Ministry said on Wednesday the total number of coronavirus cases in the African country has increased to 779, after 69 new cases were confirmed, all of them Egyptians.

The death toll also increased to 52 by Wednesday, after six new deaths were reported, including a Jordanian citizen and five Egyptians, the ministry said in a statement.

A total of 22 patients recovered and were released from the quarantine hospital, one of them is a Malaysian national, to have the number of the recovered rising to 179, according to the ministry’s spokesperson Khaled Megahed. Megahed said the number of cases that turned negative for COVID-19 rose to 221, including the 179 recovered.

Since mid-March, the Egyptian government has taken gradual steps in dealing with the coronavirus spread, starting with suspending schools and universities. It also suspended the international flights until mid-April.

Furthermore, a partial two-week curfew was imposed on March 24, 2020, while all restaurants, cafes, cafeterias, casinos, night clubs, bars, shopping centers (malls), and other local shops shut down completely until April 14, 2020.

Additionally, the Ministry of Awqaf [Endowment] extended the closure of the mosques and the places of worship nationwide until further notice.

As yet, the global cases infected with the virus reached 953,799 people and 48,509 deaths were reported, while the recovered cases rose to 202,913. On March 10, 2020, the virus was announced a global pandemic by the World Health Organization.