CAIRO, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's popular Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh is not locked down over the novel coronavirus, and only the workers and employees communicating with foreign tourists will go through a 14-day quarantine, local authorities said Wednesday.
"Those communicating with foreign tourists in hotels and attractions will go through a 14-day quarantine after the departure of the last foreign tourist in the city," South Sinai Governor Khaled Fouda told Xinhua.
"It is just a precautionary measure but Sharm El-Sheikh is safe and sound," Fouda said.
Entry and exit from and to Sharm El-Sheikh is going on normally and "all highways, roads and domestic flights are operating," he added.
The 14-day quarantine will mostly be applied from Thursday as it will mark the takeoff of the last international flight of the national carrier EgyptAir before its flight suspension is imposed, according to the governor.
Egypt has so far confirmed 196 COVID-19 cases, with six deaths and 26 recoveries, according to the latest figures of the country's health ministry.
A similar two-week quarantine period has recently been declared to be imposed on tourism staff in popular Egyptian cities including the Red Sea resort of Hurghada and Upper Egypt's monument-rich cities of Luxor and Aswan.
Egypt has recently taken strict measures to control the spread of the deadly virus including shutting down schools, universities and all classes, suspending flights and reducing government employees.
Egypt has also cooperated closely with China, which has accumulated rich experience in successfully controlling the epidemic.
Egypt donated much-needed medical supplies to China to help contain the spread of the highly infectious disease after its outbreak in late January.
In return, China provided Egypt with the latest guidelines on coronavirus diagnosis and treatment, as well as 1,000 virus scanners during a visit to China by Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed in early March. Enditem
