CAIRO, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Egypt confirmed on Monday 115 new COVID-19 infections and 13 deaths, raising the total cases registered in the country since the outbreak of the pandemic to 96,590 and the death toll to 5,173, said the Egyptian Health Ministry.
Meanwhile, 908 coronavirus patients were cured and discharged from hospitals, increasing the total recoveries to 60,651, Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed.
Egypt 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 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.
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
