Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Wednesday said the government has decided to extend the nationwide night-time curfew by 15 days until April 23 to counter the coronavirus spread, reported Reuters.
In a televised news conference, Madbouly said the curfew will now begin one hour later, at 8 pm local time, and end at 6 am local time. He explained that the cut in the timing is aimed at easing public transport crowding ahead of the curfew enforcement. Under the curfew, Egyptians are required to stay indoors but they can leave their home for food or other essential reasons.
He added that the closure of airports, restaurants and schools, as well as a reduction in public sector workforce will continue during this time. Journalists and media workers, doctors, healthcare and emergency services workers are exempt from the curfew. The government has also suspended all congregational prayers at mosques, including those held on Fridays.
“We continue to maintain all precautionary measures as well as suspending the air traffic, the closure of schools, universities and commercial stores and scaling down workforce at the state institutions,” Madbouli said.
The Egyptian prime minister also announced that his Cabinet will take a 20% pay cut for the next three months, to help support the people who are struggling financially due to the crisis. The money will be used to support the “Tahya Misr Fund” (Long Live Egypt Fund), and to help the initiative to support non-standard employment in Egypt, part of the government’s measures to limit the impact of coronavirus
He added that Egypt is still within the safe limits of coronavirus infections, but he warned against underestimating the threat of the highly contagious ailment.
The curfew extension comes one day after Egypt reported 9 additional deaths and 110 new coronavirus cases, bringing the country’s number of confirmed total cases so far to 1,560.
