Egypt

04 April 2020; MEMO: Chinese ambassador to Cairo, Liao Liqiang, announced on Thursday that his country will soon be providing a batch of medical supplies to Egypt, in response to the Egyptian government’s efforts to help China confront the coronavirus pandemic.

03 April 2020; MEMO: Egyptians have called on President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to use the presidential palaces he had built for himself as quarantine centres for coronavirus patients.

31 Mar 2020; MEMO: Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris has threatened to commit suicide if measures to combat the spread of coronavirus are not rescinded after two weeks.

In an interview with local television channel Al-Hadath, Sawiris said “let me tell you something, I will commit suicide if they extend the [curfew] period.”

CAIRO, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Egypt condemned the recent two ballistic missile attacks launched by Yemen's Houthi group on the Saudi cities of Riyadh and Jazan, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

"The Egyptian government and people stand in solidarity with their counterparts in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and support all the necessary procedures taken to maintain the security and stability of the kingdom," the statement said.

29 Mar 2020; MEMO: Egyptian banks have been instructed to apply temporary limits on daily withdrawals and deposits in a move seemingly designed to control inflation and hoarding as concern grows over the spread of the coronavirus, reported Reuters.

28 Mar 2020; MEMO: A number of Egyptian media professionals have rejected the recent media council’s decision to block websites and prosecute social media users, considering it contrary to the law and constitution that stipulates freedom of the press, the right to circulate information and freedom of expression in general.

27 Mar 2020; MEMO: A court in Egypt has sentenced five people to death for damaging an oil pipeline last November and causing an explosion and fire in which nine people were killed and eleven were wounded.

The Damanhour Criminal Court in Beheira Governorate passed the sentences yesterday. Five others were sentenced to life imprisonment.

CAIRO, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Thursday reported 2,389 more cases of COVID-19 infection, as the total number reached 29,406. Meanwhile, the Saudi Arabia-hosted Group of 20 (G20) virtual summit called for joint global efforts to defeat the virus.

Iran reported 157 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, raising the country's death toll from the virus to 2,234. So far a total of 10,457 patients have recovered since the first cases were detected on Feb. 19.

26 Mar 2020; MEMO: Egypt hopes to turn public schools into hospitals and isolation areas for coronavirus patients, in the event of an increase in the number of infection cases, the Egyptian Information Minister, Osama Heikal, announced yesterday.

CAIRO (AP) — An international aid group said Wednesday that closures aimed at containing the coronavirus pandemic are preventing it from reaching 300,000 people in conflict zones across the Middle East, as the virus arrived in war-torn Libya and case counts rose in Syria and the Gaza Strip, among the world’s most vulnerable places.