Killing time in curfew: What Egyptians web-surf the most

CAIRO – 20 April 2020: As many Egyptians are abiding by the precautionary measures to combat the spread of coronavirus by staying home, they turned to the internet as a replacement of the daily activities they used to do before quarantine.

According to the Ministry of Telecommunications, Egyptians have extensively used the internet and online applications during the curfew time. This is in addition to the large amounts of downloads per day during March and April.

According to the ministry, Egyptians' international phone calls increased by 15 percent and their local calls surged by 3 percent.

There was an 87 percent increase in the Egyptians’ domestic use of internet, and 18 percent increase in their mobile data usage.

Egyptians' search on the internet showed an increase by 376 percent on the educational websites during the second week of April, compared to the second week of March.

Surfing the internet in general witnessed an increase of 131 percent, and the peak hours on the internet rose to be 15 hours per day starting from 12 p.m. and until 3 a.m. during the second week in April, compared to only 7 hours during the second week in March.

Regarding famous applications, Tik Tok, the short-form mobile video application, came at the top of the list by a usage increase of 194 percent above Facebook whose usage increased by 151 percent, games that rose by 96 percent, Netflix that increased by 69 percent, Instagram that rose by 59 percent, Youtube that rose by 41 percent and Whatsapp that witnessed an increase of 34 percent.

Egypt’s coronavirus cases surpassed 3,000 and death toll reached 250. The country has announced a night-time curfew since March 25 in a bid to lessen gatherings and combat the spread of coronavirus.

On Monday, advisor of Egypt's president for health affairs said in TV statements that the infection curve in Egypt is still “within expected limits,” and that the treatment protocol adopted has shown to be among the best, urging citizens to abide by the precautionary measures.