The Egyptian health ministry has confirmed 272 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number in the country to 6,465.

Meanwhile, 14 patients died from the novel coronavirus on Sunday, raising the death toll to 429, the ministry’s spokesman Khaled Megahed said in a statement.

Megahed pointed out that 40 more COVID-19 patients were completely cured and discharged from hospitals, increasing total recoveries to 1,562.
He highlighted Egypt’s cooperation with the World Health Organisation regarding COVID-19 case detection and necessary medical care.

Earlier in the day, Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed inspected three public hospitals specialised in fever and chest diseases in Giza Province near the capital Cairo, amid a plan to prepare 34 similar hospitals nationwide as quarantine hospitals for COVID-19 patients.

Egypt announced its first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus on Feb. 14 and the first death on March 8, both of whom were foreigners.

The Egyptian government has recently started to ease restrictions and reopen services and offices that have been closed for more than six weeks, within a coexistence plan to carry out precautionary measures while resuming services and economic activities.

The North African country is currently implementing a nationwide nine-hour night time curfew that will continue until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.