- Title: Egypt presses on with construction of new museum amid coronavirus
- Date: 13th April 2020
- Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (APRIL 13, 2020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF COLOSSUS OF ANCIENT EGYPTIAN KING RAMSES SEEN AT ENTRANCE OF GRAND EGYPTIAN MUSEUM WITH VARIOUS OF WORKERS AND EQUIPMENT ON SITE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GENERAL SUPERVISOR OF THE GRAND EGYPTIAN MUSEUM, MAJOR GENERAL ATEF MUFTAH, SAYING: "We have a clear mission and target, which is to complete the engineering and archaeological aspects of the project. There is no doubt that the coronavirus has had an impact, but it has impacted the number of workers and number of foreign specialists on site. There are 65 local and international companies, that are working on completing the remainder of the project. Out of these 65 companies, 11 have left, and 53 remain. Today for example, there are 37 companies working with approximately 1,700 workers on site." INSCRIPTION ON WALL READING (English): "MUSEUM" VARIOUS OF ARTEFACTS INSIDE MUSEUM WORKERS ON SITE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GENERAL SUPERVISOR OF THE GRAND EGYPTIAN MUSEUM, MAJOR GENERAL ATEF MUFTAH, SAYING: "Before the coronavirus, the capacity of daily workers was between 5,000 to 6,000 people on site. Today, there are 1,700 aside from administrative staff, which brings it to 2,000 which is around 40 percent of full capacity. We are aiming to reach 50 or 60 percent and are working on reaching 100 percent." EGYPTIAN MINISTER OF ANTIQUITIES KHALED AL-ANANY INSPECTING ARTEFACT VARIOUS OF EXPERTS RESTORING ARTEFACTS AT GEM LABORATORY (SOUNDBITE) (English) EGYPTIAN MINISTER OF ANTIQUITIES KHALED AL-ANANY, SAYING: "We are not very keen to have all this gathering in closed galleries and to save their health we decided to slow down the work inside the museum, but the restoration work is progressing quite well, we moved more than 5,000 objects from the collection of Tutankamun, the work progress now is more than 90 percent. We are aiming to end the project by early 2021, the opening is another issue. WORKER SANITIZING MUSEUM ENTRANCE VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF GRAND EGYPTIAN MUSEUM WITH PYRAMIDS SEEN IN BACKGROUND
- Embargoed: 27th April 2020 16:06
- Keywords: Antiquities Construction Coronavirus Egypt Grand Egyptian Museum Tourism
- Location: GIZA, EGYPT
- City: GIZA, EGYPT
- Country: Egypt
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA001C9BR5MV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Construction work at the Grand Egyptian Museum is continuing but at half its regular capacity, as the country ramps up efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Out of a total of around 6000 workers, approximately 1,700 are operating on site after workers from 11 out of an original 65 companies contracted with the museum, left.
Those who remain have their temperatures scanned every day upon arrival and go through sanitization units before entering the museum premises. The work is being carried out in the museum's more open spaces, and those in closed galleries are limited to fewer numbers.
The museum was originally scheduled to open in July 2020 but Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi postponed the launch "due to the circumstances and repercussions of the process of the new coronavirus" a statement said last week.
"There is no doubt that the coronavirus has had an impact, but it has impacted the number of workers and number of foreign specialists on site," Project supervisor General Major Atef Muftah, said.
Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Khaled al-Anany said they hope to finish construction of the site by early 2021.
Egypt also postponed moving civil servants to a planned new administrative capital to 2021 and postponed the official launch of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, which was partially opened in 2017.
As of Sunday (April 12), Egypt's health ministry had registered 2,065 cases of the new coronavirus including 159 deaths.
(Production: Sherif Fahmy, Seham Eloraby) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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