Governor of Egypt's Red Sea governorate Amr Hanafy announced on Saturday that 323 Egyptians will travel to Cairo from Marsa Alam on Sunday after ending their 14-day quarantine period at a hotel in the Red Sea city.

According to a statement by the Red Sea governorate, Hanafy stressed that all precautionary and preventative measures have been taken for them in accordance with "the directives of the political leadership to provide all the necessary facilities for Egyptians returning from abroad."

The 323 Egyptians had arrived from Washington to Marsa Alam International Airport on board a plane carrying Egyptians who had been stranded abroad amid the coronavirus crisis.

This was the second plane returning Egyptians from Washington after a previous flight had returned 275 Egyptians from the US capital.

Hanafy said that the 275 Egyptians completed their quarantine period and returned to their homes on Friday morning.

The Red Sea city received a third flight on Saturday morning, the statement added.

"Today [Saturday], the third plane carrying stranded Egyptians has arrived at Marsa Alam International Airport from Canada, with 216 passengers, including 12 children," Hanafy said.

“I follow up around the clock on the plan to receive the Egyptians returning from Canada,” Hanady said, adding that he has facilitated the speedy completion of check-in procedures at the airport to directly take them to a hotel in the city to spend 14 days in quarantine.

"All the returnees underwent medical examination by quarantine doctors in the governorate," said the governor, thanking all the medical teams for their continuous efforts.

According to a statement by the Egyptian foreign ministry on Friday, the Egyptian ambassador in Canada said that some Egyptians were unable to get on the flight, including residents in remote areas in the Canadian west and students taking their final exams who were notified by their universities that they should leave their dorms after the exams.

"These stranded Egyptians will be taken into account when arranging other repatriation flights," said Egyptian Ambassador in Canada Ahmed Abu Zeid.

Hanafy added that the returnees will be provided with food and the hotels at which they are staying will be continuously sterilised.

On Saturday, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has ordered the government to continue with efforts to bring back home the Egyptians stranded abroad.

The presidency spokesperson said in a statement that the president issued his directives at a meeting with concerned ministers to discuss the situation of non-resident expatriates stranded abroad.

The government is requiring returnees to sign a written acknowledgement that they agree to remain quarantine before boarding their flights.

Last week, the president decided that the cost of their stay at hotels will be covered by the state.

On Saturday, the health ministry announced 188 new coronavirus infections, the highest single-day rise to date, bringing the country’s total number of confirmed cases to 3,032, including 701 recoveries. The total number of fatalities stands at 224, after 19 deaths were announced on the same day.

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