( 3 minutes read)
· Starting March 31, Egypt will shut down its airports to
contain the outbreak of the coronavirus. From midnight of today (31st
March) onwards, the air traveling in the country will come to a
grinding halt
· Notwithstanding its favorable spin offs in containing the
pandemic-COVID-19, measures will heavily impact the country’s economy
and tourism sectors. Some estimates put that 138,000 jobs are at stake
in the immediate future. The move in course of time, would shave off
US$ 1 billion in airline revenues
Starting March 31, Egypt will shut down its airports to contain the
outbreak of the coronavirus. From midnight today (31st March) onwards,
the air traveling in the country will come to a grinding halt.
Notwithstanding its favorable spin offs in containing the
pandemic-COVID-19, measures will heavily impact the country’s economy
and tourism sectors. Some estimates put that 138,000 jobs are at stake
in the immediate future. The move in course of time, would shave off
US$ 1 billion in airline revenues.
Egypt has reported only 300 cases (till March 22) and eight deaths.
As a precaution against further spread of the deadly virus, it has
earlier suspended flights to destinations which were affected, closed
schools, and has quarantined more than 300 families in a Nile Delta
village. It is goods news that 42 people were cured of the disease.
The virus had left indelible damages to different sectors of the
economy, other than tourism and travel. The real estate sector was
badly hit because of sharp fall in demand. Many feel that the country
is staring at a recession since manufacturing and agriculture are not
in the pink of health. One silver lining is the pharmaceutical
sector, which is getting highly active in the aftermath of the
pandemic. Egypt is home to a good number of pharmaceutical companies
and some of the world’s largest medical companies have their
production units in North African country.
