Egypt reopens pyramids to tourists

CAIRO: Egypt reopened its famed Giza pyramids to the public on Wednesday after a three-month closure, seeking to restart a vital tourism industry battered by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Dozens of excited tourists snapped selfies as they wandered around Egypt’s most iconic ancient site.

The pyramids were the country’s first tourist attraction to reopen, along with the Egyptian Museum next to Cairo’s Tahrir Square, ground zero of the 2011 revolution.

Authorities are hoping holidaymakers will brave flying and head to Egypt after international flights resumed on Tuesday under loosening travel restrictions.

“We came to the Pyramids today because they opened up after they were closed for a long time,” Ashiana Love, an Australian tourist at the site, said.

“The energy is really special.”

Egypt has recorded more than 68,000 cases and nearly 3,000 deaths.

But tour guide Fatma Bayoumy said she was reassured by reinforced safety measures at the site.

“There are many protective procedures taken before entering the Pyramids. They disinfect everything, the visitors and the bags -- it is safe,” she said on a scorching Cairo morning.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday the Middle East faces a “critical threshold” amid a relaxation of coronavirus measures, following a surge in cases in the region.

“We are at a critical threshold in our region,” the WHO’S Middle East head, Ahmed Al Mandhari, said in an online press conference.

The global health body confirmed on Sunday there were more than one million cases of the COVID-19 disease across the 22 countries that the WHO’S Eastern Mediterranean region covers, stretching from Morocco to Pakistan.

Over 80 per cent of all deaths in the region were reported in five countries: Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, according to the WHO. Mandhari said it was a “concerning milestone.”