The National Council for Human Rights, a governmental institution, called in an official statement to expand the policy of health release for elderly detainees and those with chronic diseases, as part of the precautionary measures taken by the government to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.

The Council called on the Ministry of Interior to provide means of communication between prisoners and their families after extending the decision to stop visits The Council affirmed the necessity of providing personal hygiene and protective tools for prisoners and announced the formation of a committee to receive complaints related to this matter.

The Council called for the equation of medical staff infected and deceased with COVID-19, with martyrs and injured of war operations, and called for an increase in the health budget, and the expansion of testing suspected cases for early discovery and isolation of those infected but without symptoms.

It’s reported that UNHCR said that the number of detainees in Egypt reaches 114,000, calling on the Egyptian government to release those accused of non-violent crimes and those in pretrial detention, who represent one-third of detainees in prisons.