EgyptAir suspends flights to Kuwait over coronavirus fears

EgyptAir said it is suspending its daily flights to Kuwait “until further notice,” in the wake of a Kuwaiti suspension of flights to and from Egypt and six other countries over the spread coronavirus.

The national carrier said the decision is effective starting Saturday, asking customers to refer to their offices in case of modifying reservations.

The decision comes hours after Kuwait said it is suspending on Saturday all flights to and from seven countries, including Egypt, for a week in an effort to combat the spread of the coronavirus, Kuwait’s civil aviation directorate said in a tweet.

The Gulf country said it is suspending all flights to and from Egypt, Bangladesh, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Syria and Lebanon to “stem the spread of COVID-19 and protect the safety of public health.”

Kuwait has detected 61 coronavirus cases per the latest count.

Several Gulf countries introduced restrictions on travellers from Egypt over the outbreak, which has infected over 100,000 and killed over 3,000 globally.

In the past weeks, Egypt had upped preventive measures at all entry points nationwide.

It reported 12 new cases on Friday, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 15 since the outbreak of the China-originated virus last December.