Cairo: The Egyptian government has banned celebrations and mass gatherings as the nation gears up to mark the Orthodox Easter and an annual spring festival amid a spike in COVID-19 infections in the populous country.
Egypt’s Orthodox Christians celebrate the Easter on Sunday.
On the following day, Egypt’s Muslims and Christians will celebrate Sham Al Nessim, an annual spring festival dating back to ancient Egypt.
Starting from today, Egyptians have a five-day holiday that also marks the Sinai Liberation Day and the Labour Day on Saturday.
Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly instructed competent state agencies to ban mass celebrations and shut down on the spot malls and coffee shops that violate health precautions, local media reported.
Infection rates
He underlined the necessity of strictly enforcing precautions as the country is witnessing an accelerated increase in the registered infection rates.
Egypt, a country of over 100 million people, so far has confirmed a tally of 225,528 coronavirus cases and 13,219 related fatalities. Egypt Wednesday continued to surpass the 1,000 infection rates for the second straight day, reporting 1,011 new virus cases and 51 fatalities.
Egyptian authorities have recently reimposed anti-coronavirus restrictions including mandatory wearing of face masks amid fears of a surge in infections during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan noted for social gatherings.
