Cairo: Egyptian authorities have adopted a set of precautions against COVID-19 amid an increase in infection cases in the populous country.
The state Higher Committee for Management of the Coronavirus Crisis, led by Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, has approved of several measures including scaled-down attendance of civil servants at workplaces.
Other steps comprise a ban on holding mourning ceremonies and wedding parties in indoor halls, shutting down private tuition centres, and levying fines on people violating the anti-virus precautions in public places, state television reported.
In an attempt to avoid big gatherings, the committee decided to postpone general assemblies of sports and youth institutions for six months as of this month.
The panel also agreed at a meeting headed by Madbouly on Wednesday to allocate 1 billion Egyptian pounds (Dh234.3 million) for virus-related emergencies, spokesman for the government Nader Saad said.
Earlier this week, Egypt surpassed the 500 mark in the daily virus cases for the first time in months.
Populous country
Health authorities Wednesday reported 544 new infections and 24 related deaths, bringing the total cases to 123,153 and fatality tally to 6,990.
The government has recently warned against an anticipated spike in virus infections in Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country of over 100 million people.
The government is considering imposing an on-the-spot fine on violators of health precautions in place to curb the spread of COVID-19, Egyptian television said.
Last month, President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi called on Egyptians to take seriously the precautions against COVID-19 to avoid reimposing tough restrictions, including a partial curfew, taken against the pandemic outbreak earlier this year.
