DUBAI: Egypt's Military Spokesman Tamer El-Refaie denied reports that the armed forces were deployed in Egyptian governorates to impose a curfew as part of the country’s fight against the new coronavirus COVID-19, local Egyptian press reported on Wednesday.

Minister of State for Information Osama Heikal, meanwhile, also denied reports that the government has isolated the South Sinai’s city of Sharm El Sheikh.

But in Aswan, Luxor and South Sinai, workers in tourist areas have been banned from leaving the governorates for a period of 14 days, health minister Hala Zayed said during a meeting with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli.

The measures taken to combat the spread of coronavirus in the three governorates include sterilizing all tourist, governmental and non-governmental facilities, Zayed said.

Tourists will be unable to enter the facilities for 14 days starting from the day when the last tourist leaves, she added.

All tourists and staff on tourist ships have also undergone precautionary tests for coronavirus, Zayed said. Egypt’s health ministry reported 30 new coronavirus cases and two deaths, bringing the total number of infected to 196, while the death toll increased to six.