Cairo International Airport on Wednesday abolished the mandatory seven-day quarantine imposed on Egyptian citizens returning from abroad on charter flights organized by the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation. Passengers are instead obliged to self-isolate at home for several days to make sure they do not have coronavirus.
Sources at Cairo International Airport said that authorities have already started to implement the policy by canceling the quarantine of roughly 450 passengers who recently arrived at the airport on board three flights from Beirut, Lebanon.
The passengers underwent coronavirus tests on arrival and none of them showed symptoms of the virus, sources said. They were instructed to spend the quarantine period at home.
The sources added that citizens returning from abroad who are suspected of having coronavirus will be made to leave the airport under medical supervision and be transferred to a quarantine hospital.
Egypt’s Ministry of Health in May reduced the quarantine period for Egyptian returnees to seven days, down from 14.
The number of coronavirus infections in Egypt has been increasing significantly over the past several days.
According to the latest statistics, Egypt has recorded a total 28,615 cases, while the death toll rose to 1,088.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
