Coronavirus: Sudan suspends flights to 8 countries, closes land border with Egypt
March 13, 2020 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese authorities suspended flights to eight countries and closed land border with Egypt in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Also, the Authority announced that passengers coming into the country have to produce an international certificate that they are free of Coronavirus.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic saying that the number of cases surpassed 132,500 worldwide and killed nearly 5,000.
Since Wednesday, the Sudanese civil aviation authorities have closed all Sudanese airports to all aircraft coming from Egypt until further notice.
The Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson Abdel Hafiz Abdel Rahim said that Egyptian flights can no longer head directly to the airports in Darfur region but they have to come first to Khartoum airport for a coronavirus test.
On Thursday, Saudi Arabia suspended flights to Sudan which remains free of Coronavirus because its border with Egypt had remained open despite reports of over 45 cases and two deaths.
On Thursday afternoon Sudan’s Minister of Cabinet Affairs Omer Manis issued a decision to close the three border crossing point with Egypt.
It was also decided to dispatch medical teams and security forces to the border areas with Egypt to be prepared for any possible cases of Coronavirus.
The government was preparing the closure of the border with Egypt for several days due to the big number of daily flights between the two countries.
Further, the minister urged the government members to avoid holding large gatherings inside the country.
(ST)