Egypt to allow wedding ceremonies, cultural events in open-air venues

Egypt will allow wedding ceremonies and cultural events to be held in open-air venues from September 21, after months of banning them in an attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the cabinet said on Monday.

Open-air weddings would be allowed in tourist and hotel facilities that obtained health safety certificates, with a maximum of 300 invitees, it added in a statement.

These facilities would also be able to host meetings and conferences with not more than 150 participants, it said.

Cultural exhibitions, including book fairs, would be allowed in open-air venues with a maximum attendance of 50% of capacity, the statement said.

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Funeral prayers could resume at mosques with outdoor yards, but not at normal daily prayers times, it added.

Egypt’s total recorded coronavirus cases hit 100,000 earlier this month, with a total death toll of more than 5,000. However, the number of daily infections and deaths has declined sharply during the last few weeks.