A man wearing a face mask walks through the ticket gate at a metro station in Cairo, Egypt, on Aug. 16, 2020. Egypt confirmed on Sunday 139 new COVID-19 infections and 19 deaths, raising the total cases registered in the country since the outbreak of the pandemic to 96,475 and the death toll to 5,160, said the Egyptian Health Ministry. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)
CAIRO, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Egypt confirmed on Sunday 139 new COVID-19 infections and 19 deaths, raising the total cases registered in the country since the outbreak of the pandemic to 96,475 and the death toll to 5,160, said the Egyptian Health Ministry.
Meanwhile, 908 coronavirus patients were cured and discharged from hospitals, increasing the total recoveries to 59,743, Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed.
He stressed Egypt's close cooperation with the World Health Organization regarding the pandemic.
The most populous Arab country announced its first confirmed COVID-19 case on Feb. 14 and the first death from the highly infectious virus on March 8.
From the first week of July, coronavirus daily fatalities and infections in Egypt started to gradually decline along with highly increasing daily recoveries.
Earlier this month, Egypt decided to ban anyone from entering the country without a recent PCR test that proves they are free from COVID-19, except for tourists coming via direct flights to the airports of Sharm El-Sheikh, Hurghada, Taba and Marsa Alam.
The country resumed international flights in early July, after it lifted a partial nighttime curfew it has been imposing since late March, and reopened restaurants, cafes, theaters and cinemas, as well as hotels, museums and archeological sites, all with limited capacity.
Easing restrictions is part of a coexistence plan adopted by the government over the past weeks to maintain anti-coronavirus precautionary measures while resuming economic activities.
Egypt and China have been working together on fighting the pandemic through exchanging medical aid and expertise.
In early February, Egypt provided aid to China to help with its fight against COVID-19 and China later sent three batches of medical aid to the North African country. Enditem
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