On a relatively uneventful night on the airwaves, the talking heads mostly kept themselves busy with covid-19-related news and commentary, including the Health Ministry’s daily case tally (watch, runtime: 0:43 and runtime: 0:48).

The government hasn’t yet decided on the covid-19 policies it will implement during Ramadan and those will be shaped largely by how the next two weeks progress, Information Minister Osama Heikal told Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Assal. Heikal did not explicitly say that the semi-lockdown could be eased if people adhere to the rules over the next two weeks and said we’ll also be taking our cue from other countries with similar experiences

Heikal also noted that the curfew starting one hour later is not an invitation for workplaces to extend their hours, since that would defeat the purpose of starting curfew hours later to ease crowding on mass transport during rush hour (watch, runtime: 42:40).

The specific procedures for the disbursal of a monthly EGP 500 stipend for day labourers earned a good amount of attention, with Masaa DMC’s Eman El Hosary phoning Manpower Minister Mohamed Saafan (watch, runtime: 9:21) Al Kahera Alaan’s Lamees El Hadidi speaking to Manpower Minister spokesman Haitham Saad Eldin (watch, runtime: 6:13) and El Hekaya’s Amr Adib speaking to CIT Minister Amr Talaat for a chat (watch, runtime: 6:15).

SCZone projects are moving along on schedule despite covid: The Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZOne) is expecting to sign new contracts with DP World and other major companies “soon,” SCZone boss Yehia Zaki told ‘Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa. Zaki otherwise remained tight-lipped on the topic, but noted that the zone has not seen any significant slowdown resulting from the covid-19 outbreak, reiterating what he told us last month (watch, runtime: 10:36).