The Egyptian cabinet announced on Wednesday that public and private sector employees will take Saturday as a paid day off to mark International Labour Day and will take Monday also as a paid day off to mark Sham El-Nessim. The cabinet also granted public and private sector employees a day off on Sunday as a precautionary measure to limit the crowding of citizens amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a decree issued by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly earlier today. Though the holidays that fall on weekdays are moved to Thursdays as per a previous cabinet decree, the government said Labour Day and Sham El-Nessim will be marked on their respective days. Every year, Egypt celebrates Labour Day on 1 May, and Sham El-Nessim a day after Easter Sunday. Egypt, however, will mark the 39th anniversary of Sinai Liberation Day tomorrow - Thursday 29 April - rather than on the actual day of the occasion - 25 April - as per the previous cabinet's decree. Egypt celebrates on 25 April the final withdrawal of all Israeli military forces from the Sinai Peninsula in 1982 following the 1979 US-brokered Camp David peace accords. The decision does not apply to employees at vital facilities, whose management are allowed to determine these holidays as per working conditions, the decree read. These facilities include transport services, ambulances, hospitals, water and sanitation services, and electricity.
