Egypt has been ranked first across Africa, third in the Middle East region, and 25th globally in Bloomberg's coronavirus resilience ranking, according to an infographic published on Saturday by the Egyptian cabinet's Information and Decision Support Centre. The Bloomberg ranking, issued in November 2020, measured the ability of countries to combat the pandemic, and determined the best countries to live in during the crisis as per 10 sub-indicators. The sub-indicators were monthly cases, monthly fatality rate, total deaths per 1 million, positive test rates, access to coronavirus vaccines, lockdown severity, community mobility, 2020 GDP growth forecast, universal healthcare coverage, and human development index. Bloomberg's ranking indicated that Egypt recorded an average of seven cases per 100,000 citizens monthly, and a total of 64 deaths per one million citizens since the outbreak hit the North African country. Egypt is expected to be among the top five countries to achieve growth in 2020, according to the Bloomberg ranking. The virus has so far infected 118,014 and killed 6,750 in Egypt since the outbreak hit the country in February. Following the outbreak, the Egyptian government imposed strict closing and opening hours for commercial outlets and entertainment venues as part of measures to contain the spread of the virus. In late June, Egypt gradually reopened the economy, easing some of its anti-virus restrictions, including lifting the nighttime curfew, reopening restaurants and places of worship, and resuming regular international flights as part of a plan to co-exist with the virus. However, as coronavirus cases started to increase once again in recent weeks, the Egyptian government ordered shops and cafes to close earlier and tightened levying of fines against citizens who violate mask mandates.
