By Tuqa Khalid

DUBAI -- Egypt reported 188 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the country up to 3,032 cases, according to the Ministry of Health.

The ministry also reported 19 new deaths, brining the death toll up to 224.

The country had imposed a night curfew on March 25 and said it will suspend all public transport on April 20.

Penalties for violators of the curfew include a fine of up to 4,000 Egyptian pounds (around $250) and may include jail time.

Toward the end of March, the government shuttered several hospitals and quarantined villages in an attempt to halt the rising infection rate of the coronavirus in the most populous Arab state.

Hospitals such as Al-Salam, Alexandria University Hospital and Al-Shorouk hospital in Cairo were all closed.

Health ministry spokesperson Khaled Megahed had also announced that villages in up to 10 governorates have been quarantined.

“We have several infections from the same source... in what we call local transmission. Before it spreads to become a community transmission, we undertake this precautionary measure of quarantining the entire village... for 14 days,” he said on March 28. -- Al Arabiya English