Egypt on Monday reported 149 new coronavirus cases, its highest daily toll since confirming the first infection in February.
The North African country, which also reported seven new fatalities on Monday, has so far recorded 1,322 cases including 85 deaths.
A total of 259 people had recovered from the fast-spreading disease and been released from hospitals as of Monday, Egypt’s Health Ministry said in a statement.
Egyptian officials have said that once the number of known infections surpasses 1,000, the task of tracing contacts and quarantining those affected would become harder.
However, Health Minister Hala Zayed Said in a televised briefing on Monday evening that “Egypt is one of the countries that has small number of infections compared to the population according to the standards of the World Health Organization.”
Egypt, the most populous Arab nation and home to 100 million people, has imposed a nightly curfew to counter the spread of the virus and closed its airports and tourist resorts. (Reuters)