Egypt

29 April 2020; MEMO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi issued a decree extending the state of emergency across the country “due to the critical security and health situation,” the official gazette reported.

CAIRO, Apr 29 (NNN-MENA) – Egypt witnessed a record of daily fatalities of COVID-19 with 22 new deaths on Tuesday, bringing the death toll in the country to 359.

The Egyptian Health Ministry also confirmed 260 new infections, raising the total COVID-19 cases registered in Egypt to 5,042.

Khaled Megahed, the health ministry’s spokesman, said, 68 patients were completely cured and discharged from hospitals, increasing total recoveries to 1,304.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s cabinet has urged Yemen’s main separatist group, which has declared self-rule in the south, to abide by an agreement to end a previous standoff with the Saudi-backed government.

The declaration by the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) on Sunday, which included emergency rule in southern regions, threatens to renew conflict with the government.

28 April 2020; MEMO: The Arabic hashtag “irhal ya Sisi” (You must go, Sisi) was among the top trending hashtags on Twitter after the government announced that it has requested yet another loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

28 April 2020; MEMO: The Arab League will on Thursday hold an urgent virtual meeting to discuss Israeli plans to annex illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, Wafa News Agency reported yesterday.

In a statement, Assistant Secretary General of the Arab League, Hossam Zaki, said that the meeting will discuss various ways of providing political, legal and financial support to the Palestinian leadership to confront the Israeli plans.

27 April 2020; MEMO: Egypt has released over 4,000 prisoners on Sinai Liberation Day suggesting it has bowed to pressure to ease overcrowding in case COVID-19 hits prisons.

On Saturday the state-run media announced that 3,778 prisoners had been pardoned and 233 conditionally released, a far higher figure than usual. On the same day last year, 67 were pardoned.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia eased curfews on Sunday across the country, while keeping 24-hour curfews in the city of Mecca and in neighbourhoods previously put in isolation, state news agency SPA said.

Outside those exceptional areas, curfews will be eased between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. (0600-1400 GMT) effective Sunday until May 13. The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan began on Friday.

The royal order also allowed some economic and commercial activities to re-start, including wholesale and retail shops and shopping malls, from Wednesday until May 13.

25 April 2020; MEMO: On Thursday Spanish gas firm Naturgy have confirmed it would resume its efforts to obtain $2 billion from Egypt in compensation for the collapse of a gas project in the country, Rassd.com have reported.

23 April 2020; MEMO: The US embassy in Cairo has written a press statement calling on Beijing to release people detained unjustly.

The statement asks that human rights lawyer Wang Quanchang be allowed to move freely including joining his family in Beijing now that he has been released from unfair detention.

Wang was detained as part of a campaign against over 300 lawyers and human rights activists in July 2015.

21 April 2020; MEMO: The Egyptian Presidential Advisor for Health and Prevention Affairs, Dr. Mohamed Awad Taj El-Din, said his country had started clinical trials for Avigan antiviral drug to treat coronavirus patients.

Avigan is an antiviral drug produced by Japan’s Fujifilm Holdings Corporation in 2014 to treat influenza and new viruses.