Egypt reports 1,277 new coronavirus cases with 58 deaths

CAIRO - 4 January 2020: The Egyptian Health Ministry said 1,277 new coronavirus cases were detected, upping the total number of confirmed cases to 143,464.

Spokesman for the Health Ministry Khaled Megahed said 58 patients have died from the virus over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 7,863.

As many as 703 patients were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care, taking the number of recovered cases to 114,601 so far, the spokesman said.

In December, Health Minister officially announced that Egypt is facing the second wave of coronavirus.

The Cabinet, in response, announced further measures to curb the spread of the novel virus, including imposing an immediate fine on people not wearing face masks in closed places and public transportation. The decision comes into effect on Sunday January 3.

Cabinet spokesman Nader Saad, in remarks to media in December, said the ventilator use rose to 42 percent and that Egypt has prepared 363  hospitals for quarantine, the same number of hospitals for quarantine as that it prepared during the peak of the first wave.