Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation Mohamed Manar Enabah on Sunday said that once international travel resumes, Egyptian authorities will require more stringent procedures for visitors from countries in which coronavirus is still spreading.
During a phone call with the al-Mehwar satellite channel, Enabah added that in order to ensure that passengers coming to Egypt from a country where the coronavirus is spreading are free from infection, each passenger will be required to provide a PCR coronavirus test certificate certifying that they are not infected with the virus.
“Those who come from countries where the pandemic is spreading will not get on the plane, unless PCR analysis proves that they are free of the disease,” he added.
Enabah also mentioned that this might also be the case for Egyptian travelers, as other countries may request PCR analysis if the disease spreads widely in Egypt, which has not happened yet.
“Our rates, thank God, are less than outbreak rates,” he said. “So far, Egyptians have not been required to carry this type of certificate when traveling to another country.”
The Egyptian Ministry of Aviation on Sunday announced the reopening of all Egyptian airports as of July 1, after all regular flights were suspended in March.
The Egyptian Red Sea resort City of Hurghada will receive on July 4 the first foreign tourist flight from Belarus, according to talks between the two tourism ministers of Egypt, Belarus and the Red Sea Tourism Investors Association.
Egypt suspended tourism in March as part of measures to combat the spread of coronavirus. Tourism is a vital sector in Egypt, accounting for about 12 percent of Egypt’s gross domestic product.
The tourism sector is also one of the economic sectors that has been most severely impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
