国际英语新闻:Egypt sees drop in daily COVID-19 deaths as total infections nudge 90,000

CAIRO, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Egypt reported on Wednesday 41 deaths from COVID-19, the lowest in nearly six weeks, bringing the death toll to 4,440, said the Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, 667 new COVID-19 infections were confirmed, raising the total number registered in the country to 89,745, Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said in a statement.

It is also the second week in a row for Egypt's COVID-19 daily infections to fall below 1,000, as a record 1,774 infections were seen on June 19.

Megahed noted that 602 COVID-19 patients were cured and discharged from hospitals on Wednesday, increasing the total recoveries to 30,075.

Egypt announced its first confirmed COVID-19 case on Feb. 14 and the first death from the highly infectious virus on March 8.

Over the past few weeks, Egypt has been easing anti-coronavirus restrictions amid a coexistence plan to maintain precautionary measures while resuming economic activities.

The country resumed international flights, 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.

Earlier on Wednesday, the government said it will further ease restrictions imposed on cafes and restaurants from July 26, ahead of the Islamic Eid al-Adha (Sacrifice Feast) that falls at the end of the month, allowing them to increase their capacity from 25 percent to 50 percent and work until midnight instead of 10 p.m. local time.

Besides, official conferences and meetings will be allowed to be held with a maximum of 50 people at halls that can accommodate at least 100 people.

Egypt and China have been closely cooperating in 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, the latest of which was in mid-May.