Egypt reported 1,102 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, bringing the total infection tally to 232,905 since the outbreak began last year. The health ministry also reported 64 new deaths, bringing the total number of deaths from the virus to 13,655. The statement said that 876 patients have been discharged after recovering from the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to 174,217. The country, which is seeing a third wave of the pandemic, has introduced a new series of restrictions for the next two weeks to reduce gatherings and crowding to curtail the current rise in infections, especially with the advent of the Eid Al-Fitr holiday next week. As of Thursday, the closing hours of commercial and entertainment venues in Egypt will be brought forward two hours earlier to be at 9pm, with restaurants to be allowed to make home deliveries past 9pm. All public gatherings, artistic events and mass activities will be banned entirely nationwide during the two-week duration. Since the beginning of May, Egypt has been seeing a spike in new daily cases, recording more than 1,000 cases a day.
