Photos: Coronavirus locks horns with the Egyptian economy

Egypt has recorded over 2,500 coronavirus cases and at least 150 deaths so far. For many in the country, living conditions were only recently begining to show signs of recovery after the turbulence of the 2011 uprising and the fallout of political unstability since. Like many other places in the world however, the ripples of the coronavirus pandemic now risk the drowning of Egypt's most vulnerable.

Updated on: Apr 17, 2020 4:01 PM IST

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Egyptian security forces cordon off roads during curfew hours in Cairo. Known for its nightlife, the Egyptian capital is now being forced to go to bed in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus through its around 20 million residents. (Nariman El-Mofty / AP)

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A view inside the Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha at the Citadel complex. Cairo’s busy thoroughfares remain silenced under curfew, but the country has for now backed off from implementing a full lockdown for fear of leaving the day-workers that fuel its informal economy without income. (Nariman El-Mofty / AP)

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A view of the Kasr El Nile Bridge. Despite the mitigating measures taken by the country during the outbreak, many are already facing joblessness. (Nariman El-Mofty / AP)

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Cafe owners close their shop after restrictions are imposed at night hours. Abdel Karim Sayed, a coffee shop owner in Cairo, said he has placed half of his employees on furlough, and cut the others’ wages by a third.“We are all financially ruined,” he said to AP. (Nariman El-Mofty / AP)

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A cat seen inside a closed coffee shop in Cairo. The lockdown seems particularly cruel for those who were just recently seeing an improvement in living conditions after the downturn that followed the country’s 2011 uprising. (Nariman El-Mofty / AP)

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President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has asked citizens to practice social distancing and stay at home to help the government curb the spread of novel coronavirus. But that’s a tall order in the nation of concentrated urban centres, where most of the population resides, and where many are daily wage earners. (Nariman El-Mofty / AP)

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A quiet evening at Ataba market, normally one of Cairo’s busiest centres during the day, which was shut down due to the outbreak. (Nariman El-Mofty / AP)

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At night, though, the difference is stark in the capital’s crowded commercial downtown, where shops’ shutters are drawn and locked and the cacophony of the normally crowded streets is conspicuously absent. (Nariman El-Mofty / AP)