El Andalous - Current Situation

Spinneys - Shelves Stocked and Safe Shopping!

I’m not going out much, for obvious reasons. The situation regarding coronavirus and regulations changes at a fast rate, so it’s possible that this blog will already be out of date by the time you are reading it. On 25th April, the official statistics were 307 total deaths (including 13 new deaths on that day) in all of Egypt.

Until very recently, our local shopping mall has been open only Sunday to Thursday from 10am to 5pm (it used to be something like 1am) and only the supermarket and the pharmacy have been open. Since last Sunday, all shops (but not cafes or restaurants) opened again in Senzo Mall. Although I’m out only for food shopping, it’s a relief to have Etisalat and Vodafone (two of the major internet providers) open again in the Mall, so that I will be able to top up my internet when I need it. Otherwise, I would have to go right into Hurghada.

Ramadan has just started here (on Friday). To my surprise, the rules were relaxed a little. Our curfew was shortened, changing from 7pm-6am to 8pm-6am. Restaurants and cafes were allowed to re-open but for deliveries and take-away only and shopping malls (including Senzo) are now allowed to be open seven days a week. Public gatherings for Ramadan are not allowed.

As I mentioned in my last blog, they recently prohibited any use of the beach whatsoever. No walking on the beach, no crossing the beach to swim. No boats are allowed. This has been strictly enforced. People can still walk on the promenade by the beach, but they cannot stand on the sand. The police have been round to resorts to check that the regulations are being enforced. Penalty can be imprisonment.

In Sahl Hasheesh itself, entrance to the resort is allowed only to long-term tenants and owners showing a residents' card. Sahl Hasheesh has been thoroughly sanitized since the closure of the hotels with no cases of coronavirus since the sanitization. Residents were not allowed visitors on Easter Monday (Coptic). All the hotels are closed and no holiday lets are allowed. The resort is basically closed to everyone apart from owners.

The El Andalous minibus to the shopping mall is still running (but at 10am until noon, instead of the evening). It arrives at Senzo pretty much as it’s opening. Spinneys (the supermarket) has just cleansed everything at that time of day and it’s almost empty (see photo). It’s been pretty impressive here. There has been no panic buying. The shelves have always been fully stocked, both at Spinneys and in our local supermarket, BestWay. BestWay offer hand sanitiser as you come in (and you can ask for it again on your way out); the staff wears masks and gloves. You can phone in and have your order delivered, but I still prefer to shop and choose my items (and then have it delivered).

I’ve actually only been with the El Andalous minibus once recently (there must have been about six of us); normally I go in with Safi when she’s going in her car, as I feel it’s safer. Of course, those of us at El Andalous all know each other and we know that we are all careful, but when I last went on the minibus, the driver for some inexplicable reason gave a friend a lift into Sahl Hasheesh on the way back and security didn’t check the extra passenger.

Anyway, I feel relatively safe (at least compared with being in Europe). A draft bill to enforce the wearing of face masks in public has been passed, but I’m not sure if that means the full bill still has to go through.

So, that’s the current situation here!