Cairo: The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan will start in Egypt on June 29, the governmental National Institute of Astronomical and Geophysical Research said on Monday.

The institute’s chairman Hatem Ouda was quoted by the official Middle East News Agency (Mena) as saying that astronomical calculations showed that Ramadan would begin on Sunday June 29 and run for 29 days.

Muslims abstain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk during Ramadan. Like all other Islamic months, the beginning and ending of Ramadan are determined by the sighting of the moon.