Egypt’s health ministry spokesperson Khaled Meghad revealed Saturday that some villages have been isolated in 10 governorates in a bid to stop any possible spread of coronavirus.

In a telephone call Saturday evening to news night talk show “My responsibility” on Sada El-Balad TV channel, Meghad told TV host Ahmed Moussa that the isolation of those villages was a precautionary measure.

“The Ministry of Health isolates the villages after discovering coronavirus cases there, so [the villages] won’t turn into a virus epicentre and spread it to other villages in the area, or the rest of the governorates,” he said.

Meghad explained the isolation of villages included the closure of all roads leading to the village as well as banning any sort of interaction between villagers and outsiders for 14 days to stop any spread of Covid-19.

“This procedure was followed in several governorates and achieved very positive results,” he said, adding that the 10 governorates include Red Sea, Al-Minya, Mounfia and Port Said.

On Saturday, Egypt’s health ministry announced that the total number of coronavirus patients jumped in to 576 after it registered officially 40 new Covid-19 cases in the country with 121 fully recovered patients and 36 fatalities.