Egypt’s health ministry on Wednesday reported 910 new coronavirus infections, marking the highest single-day figure increase since the country’s first case was diagnosed on February 14. Egypt’s overall number of infected patients stands at 19,666, with 816 deaths, 5,205 recoveries, and 8 deaths per million (Egypt’s population is estimated at 102.14 million).
Last Thursday, Egypt’s Higher Education Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar said the number of cases was expected to reach 20,000 by this weekend – and now it appears the actual number is going to be higher.
Health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said in a statement on Wednesday that the new cases were detected through the ministry’s investigation and contact tracing protocols.
The Egyptian government imposed a nationwide curfew on March 25, which starts at 5 PM during the Eid El-Fitr holiday, and as of May 30 will be from 8 PM to 6 AM for the following two weeks.
According to the semi-official Al Ahram, it took the virus 50 days to reach 1,000 infections nationwide by April 4, but only 24 hours to move 18,000 cases on Monday, to 19,000 on Tuesday.
The worst hit Muslim country is Turkey (population 84.25 million), with a reported 159,797 cases of the coronavirus, 4,431 deaths, and a rate of 53 deaths per million.
Iran (population 83.8 million) has reported 141,591 cases, 7,564 deaths, and a arate of 90 deaths per million.
Saudi Arabia (population 34.7 million) has 78,541 cases, 425 deaths, and a death rate of 12 per million.
Pakistan (population 220 million) has 61,227 cases, and 1,260 dead – 35 new deaths reported Wednesday.
