Egypt

CAIRO, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Iran said on Friday that it is closer to the containment of the COVID-19 outbreak in most of the country. Meanwhile, Turkey is poised to overtake Iran as the hardest-hit country in the Middle East due to rapid growth of new cases.

Iran on Friday reported 1,499 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 79,494, including 4,958 deaths.

Iranian Minister of Health and Medical Education Saeed Namaki said that the Islamic republic is closer to containing the pandemic in most of its provinces.

Egypt’s Medical Syndicate yesterday said it would compensate medical personnel who had contracted the coronavirus, paying them 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,267) or paying families of those who have died as a result of the virus 100,000 Egyptian pounds ($6,337).

CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian policeman and seven suspected militants were killed late on Tuesday in an exchange of gunfire after the ministry of interior received information about potential Easter attacks against Coptic Christians, the ministry said.

It said three other policemen had also been wounded.

CAIRO, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Public Prosecutor Hamada al-Sawy on Saturday ordered an investigation after citizens attempted to prevent the burial of a doctor who died from COVID-19, state-run Nile TV reported.

The police fired tear gas and arrested 20 people in Dakahlia province who protested against the burial process out of fears of the virus spread, the report added.

The 64-year-old doctor, who tested positive for the virus after returning back from Saudi Arabia, passed away in an isolation hospital in Ismailia province last week.

EGYPT, Apr 11 (NNN-MENA) – On Thursday, OPEC+ agreed to the largest oil production cuts in history, but oil prices crashed towards $20, as markets decided that a 10 million bpd cut was insufficient to balance the demand deficit.

Yesterday, the G20 met to discuss more cuts and more details will likely come out about the OPEC+ deal. Markets were closed yesterday and so all eyes will be on developments over the weekend.

10 April 2020; MEMO: Egypt has received a third Type 209/1400 submarine from Germany, the Egyptian army announced yesterday.

CAIRO (AP) — The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen announced Wednesday that its forces would begin a cease-fire starting Thursday, a step that could pave the way for the first direct peace talks between the two sides that have been at war for more than five years.

07 April 2020; MEMO: Egyptian authorities have refused to receive a Qatar-chartered Spanish airplane transporting stranded Egyptians from Doha, a source at the Qatari Foreign Ministry said today.

The source told Al Jazeera that the Qatari authorities had hired a Spanish plane on Friday, adding that Egyptian authorities had refused “to receive the carrier before take off, claiming that all the international air traffic at Cairo airport had stopped as a precautionary measure to fight the coronavirus.”

06 April 2020; MEMO: Egypt’s health minister arrived in Italy on Saturday to deliver medical aid amid the coronavirus global pandemic.

Italy has recorded 128,948 infections so far with 15,887 deaths making it Europe’s worst-hit country.

Critics have spoken out against the move, the second in the course of several weeks, given Egypt’s own shortage of supplies in its battle against the disease.

06 April 2020; MEMO: A former presidential candidate in Egypt has called on President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to release detainees and prisoners of conscience and form a committee of experts to implement measures to protect citizens and the economy during the coronavirus crisis.