Al AHram - The summer working hours of commercial venues is being implemented starting Saturday, a statement by the Cairo governorate read. The government issued in June 2020 a decision regulating the working hours of commercial and entertainment venues, saying they will vary during summer and winter. Six months later, on 1 December 2020, the decision came into force and was limited to Cairo.

The summer working hours of commercial shops and shopping malls are set from 7am to 11pm on weekdays and until midnight during weekends. Coffee shops and restaurants can operate from 5am to 1am throughout the week. Workshops and craft centres in residential areas can function from 8am to 7pm throughout the week.

According to the government’s decision, the time of operation in winter is an hour shorter. Pharmacies, bakeries, supermarkets, and fruit shops are allowed to open around the clock.

Egypt’s Local Development Minister Mahmoud Shaarawi, who submitted the proposal to the cabinet, said in December the move would help limit disarray in the streets, traffic congestion, crowding, and road obstructions in some areas.

The measures would help safeguard citizens’ public health, reduce noise, and preserve public facilities and infrastructure, he added. The government had for some years been floating the idea of imposing closing hours on shops without much success, as the decision had always been met with strong opposition.

Only last year, following the outbreak of the coronavirus, the government imposed strict closing hours as part of measures to contain the spread of the virus. Commercial and entertainment venues in Egypt have been allowed to operate at specific times.

Today’s one-hour extension of working hours for shops and restaurants comes as Egypt continues to see a slow, albeit steady, increase in detected coronavirus cases, registering more than 800 daily cases in the past few days. Egypt’s total coronavirus infection tally has so far reached more than 214,639, with 12,653 fatalities and 162,170 recoveries.