Egypt reported 174 new coronavirus cases on Monday, the health ministry announced in a statement, bringing the total number of confirmed infections nationwide to 95,666 cases since the detection of the first case in February. The country has now registered less than 200 new cases a day for nine days in a row. Egypt's daily toll of new cases dropped below the 200-case threshold for the first time since April on 2 August, with the daily toll hovering between 110 and 178 cases. The ministry said in the statement that it had recorded 26 new deaths on Monday, bringing the total number of fatalities from the respiratory virus to 5,035. Figures from the ministry's daily bulletin showed 1,101 recovered patients have been discharged over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 53,779. The decline in infections and deaths comes despite the relaxing of precautionary measures in recent months. Since late June, Egypt has been phasing out some of the anti-virus restrictions, including lifting a nighttime curfew, reopening restaurants and resuming regular international flights. However, the government warned last month that it may reinstate measures if the infection rate spikes. Health ministry, Hala Zayed on Sunday urged citizens to strictly adhere to preventive measures in anticipation of a rise in coronavirus cases, especially with the increased gatherings that took place during this month's Eid Al-Adha holiday. Egypt's coronavirus isolation hospitals are set to reopen this week in preparation for a possible second wave of COVID-19, which could possibly hit the country harder than the first wave, manager of Al-Nagila hospital Mohamed Taleb said in televised remarks on Sunday.
