Popular supermarket chain Carrefour Egypt expressed its regret over overcrowding inside one of its hypermarkets in Alexandria during a promotion period, only a few days after authorities temporarily shut down the branch for violating COVID-19 restrictions.
According to an official statement on Wednesday, Carrefour Egypt said it is committed to providing its services to customers in Alexandria and nationwide through highly safe and responsible measures.
It said it has decided to extend its promotion period to 28 February to allow customers to benefit from the promotion and reach a partnership with the DORE app, which will give access to customers to book time slots for shopping in the store to ensure their safety amid the pandemic.
Carrefour will only allow the entry of one person from each family inside branches and ban children under 12 from entry.
The store will also designate new pickup and sale areas for merchandise seeing high demand, including electronics.
Such pick-up and sale zones have been provided in outdoor areas near the hypermarket’s branches in City Centre Maadi, City Centre Almaza, and Mall of Egypt.
Carrefour will also extend its retail services online, including providing free-of-charge delivery services for customers ordering from home and providing the promotions on its website and app on weekends and national holidays.
The statement comes days after authorities in Alexandria ordered a one-week closure for the branch located inside City Centre Alexandria after anger erupted on social media over overcrowding inside the supermarket despite of the growing COVID-19 infections.
The overcrowding came despite of efforts exerted by authorities to limit gatherings, including banning New Year’s Eve celebrations to curb the spread of the virus amid rising daily infections.
The government began enforcing an immediate fine of EGP 50 (approximately $3.16) on those not wearing face masks in public since the first week of January in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus in the overpopulous country during the second wave of the pandemic.
Egypt entered the second wave of the pandemic in the last week of December after it recorded double the number of infections daily. However, it has been seeing lower cases this week, reporting a decline for the sixth consecutive day on Wednesday.
Authorities have warned of a spike in COVID-19 cases since November, as the general public have been showing a relaxed enforcement of the preventive measures since a drop in confirmed cases has been recorded in the past months.
Officials said they will exercise “zero tolerance” against people who fail to adhere to preventive measures against the pandemic.
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