Egypt Lifts COVID-19 Restrictions From June 1

Cars and pedestrians are pictured in one of the Egyptian capital Cairo’s popular streets. Authorities announced that they would lift a night curfew imposed to combat the spread of COVID-19. (File/AFP)
Cars and pedestrians are pictured in one of the Egyptian capital Cairo’s popular streets. Authorities announced that they would lift a night curfew imposed to combat the spread of COVID-19. (File/AFP)
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Egypt Lifts COVID-19 Restrictions From June 1

Cars and pedestrians are pictured in one of the Egyptian capital Cairo’s popular streets. Authorities announced that they would lift a night curfew imposed to combat the spread of COVID-19. (File/AFP)
Cars and pedestrians are pictured in one of the Egyptian capital Cairo’s popular streets. Authorities announced that they would lift a night curfew imposed to combat the spread of COVID-19. (File/AFP)

Egypt will lift restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, including easing the early closure of shops and restaurants, from Tuesday, the cabinet said.

Since May 6, stores, malls and restaurants had to close by 9 p.m. after a rise in infections.

Egypt imposed strict measures at the start of the pandemic, closing its airspace and setting nightly curfews to combat the spread of the virus, but it has remained largely open since June 2020, Reuters reported.

As part of its efforts to save the tourism sector, it completed vaccinating workers in all hotels in Southern Sinai and Red Sea provinces and plans to vaccinate all residents of the two resorts of Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheik, the cabinet said on Sunday.

Tourism revenue, an important source of foreign currency for Egypt, plunged by 70 percent in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Tourism usually accounts for up to 15 percent of gross domestic product.

Egypt is optimistic about welcoming more visitors this year with numbers increasing steadily since January to around half a million tourists a month, Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Enany told Reuters in May.

Egypt had officially confirmed 260,659 coronavirus cases including 15,001 deaths as of Saturday. However, officials and experts say the real number of infections is far higher, but is not reflected in government figures because of low testing rates and the exclusion of private test results.



More Than 50,000 Refugees Return to Syria from Türkiye

A boy cycles past buildings which were damaged during the war between opposition forces and the Assad regime, in the town of Harasta, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
A boy cycles past buildings which were damaged during the war between opposition forces and the Assad regime, in the town of Harasta, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
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More Than 50,000 Refugees Return to Syria from Türkiye

A boy cycles past buildings which were damaged during the war between opposition forces and the Assad regime, in the town of Harasta, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
A boy cycles past buildings which were damaged during the war between opposition forces and the Assad regime, in the town of Harasta, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Türkiye’s Interior Affairs Minister said Thursday that a total of 52,622 refugees have returned to Syria from Türkiye in the first month following Bashar Assad’s removal from power on Dec. 8.
Speaking at the Cilvegozu border crossing between Türkiye and Syria on Thursday, Ali Yerlikaya said that more than 40,000 Syrians had returned with family members while some 11,000 individuals crossed into Syria alone.
“The voluntary, safe, honorable and regular returns have started to increase,” Yerlikaya said.
Türkiye has hosted the largest number of Syrian refugees since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011 — more than 3.8 million at its peak in 2022.