Egypt Postpones Mid-Year Exams in Schools, Universities Nationwide

On Thursday, the Egyptian cabinet decided to postpone all mid-year exams to be held after mid-year vacation due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The cabinet's decision comes amid repercussions in the high number of Coronavirus infection rates and aims to protect the health and safety of all workers in the education process including students, teaching staff, and teachers.

Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi also directed concerned officials to make sure the mid-year vacation start from January 16 until February 20.

Sisi further directed them to continue studies remotely from home during the coming two weeks, starting from the January 2.

The cabinet’s remarks came amid fears of the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, and in response to a proposal submitted by the ministries of higher education, scientific research and technical education to complete teaching the rest of the curriculum remotely starting from next Saturday and until the end of the first semester of 2020/2021 academic year.|

Egypt’s Health Ministry on Wednesday confirmed 1,411 new coronavirus cases, bringing the country’s tally up to 136,644, ministry spokesperson Khaled Megahed announced.

The total number of COVID-19-related deaths has now reached 7,576 nationwide, after the ministry announced 56 deaths.

411 patients were discharged from quarantine at isolation hospitals, raising Egypt’s total number of fully-recovered cases to 111,451.

Egypt has officially entered the second wave of the pandemic after cases have risen steadily over the past month.