Egypt's Ministry of Health reported on Saturday 1,324 new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and 79 new fatalities. The latest figures pushed the country's total confirmed cases to 74,035 and 3,280 deaths. A total of 20,103 cases have recovered and were discharged from hospital. The country's rate of infections from the novel virus has decreased 4.9% in its 20th week in Egypt. A total of 10,169 cases were reported over the week, with a daily average of 1,452. A total of 587 fatalities due to coronavirus-related complications were reported during the 20th week. Daily death counts witnessed a slight decrease compared to the 19th week, with a daily average of 84. The highest daily infection rate recorded so far was 1,774 on 19 June, while the highest daily death count recorded so far was 97 on 15 June. Meanwhile, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said on Friday that the cases of the novel coronavirus may have now peaked in Egypt. In televised remarks on Al-Hekaya TV show, the minister added that the infection rates for the virus may decrease during the upcoming period. Abdel Ghaffar said that, if daily coronavirus counts over the last two or three weeks are reviewed, it will be noticed that new infection rates have begun to change. Egypt's infection rates, he noted, have gone from surging rates, to a steady flattening of the curve, meaning the country may have overcome its coronavirus peak. Abdel Ghaffar said it remains to be seen what the effect of Egypt's recent reopening and the ongoing exam period will have on infection rates. "We should not be surprised if we reach 100,000 COVID-19 cases in the upcoming two months," Abdel Ghaffar said. He added that the gradual decrease of coronavirus cases could last until September or early October. Meanwhile, the minister said that the National Research Centre (NRC) is in the pre-clinical development phase of new four vaccines to treat the coronavirus. He added that the World Health Organization (WHO) has listed these vaccines among about 132 vaccines under development worldwide against the coronavirus. Abdel Ghaffar noted that reaching an effective and safe vaccine to treat the virus needs months of careful research, and has to be applied on thousands of cases to ensure its success. As part of the government's reopening plan to co-exist with the virus, the nationwide night-time curfew was lifted on 27 June, after having been in place for just over three months. Restaurants, coffee shops, sports clubs, cinemas, theatres, and some cultural and social venues also reopened on 27 June, after three months of closures, despite fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections
