Four Red Sea ports in the governorate of Suez will be closed throughout Wednesday due to the extreme weather conditions affecting the country, the Red Sea ports authority announced.

Authority spokesman Abdel-Rahim Mostafa said the four ports were closed due to a lack of visibility beyond 1,500 meters caused by the sandstorm currently hitting the country, in a statement to state-owned news agency MENA on Wednesday.

The closed Red Sea ports are El-Sokhna, El-Adabiya, Petroleum and Tawfik.

The four ports will be reopened after the sandstorm ends, the spokesman added.

A heavy sandstorm that hit several countries in the Middle East including Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia earlier this week has reached Egypt in the past 48 hours.

"The sandstorm will continue through Thursday when it will soften in Cairo but remain strong in Sinai and the Red Sea,"  Wahid Saudi,  official spokesperson of Egypt's meteorological authority, told Ahram Online.