Egypt confirmed on Sunday 1,467 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total infections registered in the country since mid-February to 34,079, said the Egyptian Health Ministry.
It is the eleventh day in a row for Egypt’s daily new COVID-19 infections to surpass 1,000.
Meanwhile, 39 patients died from the novel coronavirus on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 1,237, Egyptian Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said in a statement.
He added that 423 coronavirus patients were completely cured and discharged from hospitals on the same day, increasing the total recoveries to 8,961.
Megahed reiterated that all COVID-19 cases in Egypt receive necessary medical care “in accordance with the guidelines of the World Health Organization.”
“The coronavirus recovery rate in Egypt rose to 25 percent while the death rate declined from 7 percent to 3 percent,” Mohamed Hassan, Egypt’s assistant health minister for public health initiatives, told a parliamentary health committee on Sunday.
The Health Ministry is currently working on increasing the number of hospitals treating coronavirus patients from 340 to 376.
Egypt announced its first confirmed COVID-19 case on Feb. 14 and the first death from the respiratory disease on March 8, both of whom were foreigners.
As a key precautionary measure, the Egyptian government has been imposing a nighttime curfew since mid-March.
The current nine-hour curfew will continue until mid-June, when the government will consider easing relevant restrictions amid a coexistence plan to maintain anti-coronavirus precautionary measures while resuming economic activities.
The government has already started gradual reopening of services and offices, and allowed reopening of about 100 hotels for local tourists with 50-percent capacity after they were given official hygiene safety certificates.
Egypt and China have been cooperating closely in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic through exchanging medical aid and expertise.
In early February, Egypt provide aid to China in its fight against the coronavirus outbreak.
China returned favor by sending sent three batches of medical aid to Egypt. Since mid-April, Chinese doctors held three video conferences with Egyptian counterparts to share their experience in the prevention and treatment of the novel coronavirus.
