Red Sea (Egypt) closed (covid-19 confined)

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I have a weeks LiveAboard booked for the end of May. In between now and then I would appreciate to hear from anyone that is currently in, will be going to, or has just come back from Egypt ( The Red Sea ressorts prefereably) and to learn about the actual situation concerning the Dive Resorts etc.

Obviously the Airports are shut down for the moment so that puts up an immediate barrier to travel.

The kind of info that I am looking for :

* Are the Egyptian local taking this very seriously. If they are going to Friday prepares then I consider that the risk is Extremely High. We've seen/heard about too many examples in Europe and elsewhere where large congregations are basically to be avoided at all costs.

* Are the hotels actually doing the clean up/disinfection that the government has announced.

* Any links or websites that can be trusted for actual stats concerning new cases/deaths in Egypt.

Egypt is the not the best ambassador of from speech and good journalism so it would be good to have some feedback about the real situation.

At the latest, Emporer Divers will refund up to 50% of the trip if cancelled at least 28 days prior to the voyage. So I currently have 4 weeks left to make up my mind about cancelling or not.

At the moment I have a hard time believing that it will be OK, permitted, safe or wise to travel to Egypt even at the end of May..
 
@Roy_W Sorry for asking but since you can't (and shouldn't) enter Egypt, why does it matter to you if locals take it seriously, if they do Friday prayers, if they disinfect the hotels, if the stats the government gives are true or not etc???
Given the current situation, it is not (and it shouldn't be) up to you to make it or not. I highly doubt LoBs are allowed to sail even if they or their customers want it. Hence, contact the LoB for info. The trend nowadays is that LoBs offer free reschedule or vouchers for later dates. Some impose additional restrictions. Only they would know.
Just my 2c.
Stay safe
 
At the latest, Emporer Divers will refund up to 50% of the trip if cancelled at least 28 days prior to the voyage. So I currently have 4 weeks left to make up my mind about cancelling or not.

At the moment I have a hard time believing that it will be OK, permitted, safe or wise to travel to Egypt even at the end of May..

Take the 50% and run for your life and Do not pass go, do not enter Egypt. Nobody knows the real situation there as the media is muzzled. Egypt just kick out the Guardian reporters who questioned the low number of infections claiming the math does not add up.
 
Stepfen, I understand your question but the reason for my asking is because it is more than 2 months to go. We have seen that in Wuhan the number of infections etc has seriously dropped to almost no new cases. We are approximately 6 weeks behind China, so this would normally equate to the period where the virus has either lost it's contagion or the we have become auto-immune.

Therefore if the Egyptians are taking things seriously, it might actually be possible to still go.
 
Stepfen, I understand your question but the reason for my asking is because it is more than 2 months to go. We have seen that in Wuhan the number of infections etc has seriously dropped to almost no new cases. We are approximately 6 weeks behind China, so this would normally equate to the period where the virus has either lost it's contagion or the we have become auto-immune.

Therefore if the Egyptians are taking things seriously, it might actually be possible to still go.

Egypt is not China. Wuhan was in total lock down where police welded shut apartment doors to prevent people from leaving their apartments. There were riots in Wuhan on Friday after people were refused a bridge crossing after some people were let out.

Egyptians are going about their daily business as there is no day time lock down. Egypt is 6 months behind China and has not even seen the pandemic reach the proportions it will hit later on.
 
We have seen that in Wuhan the number of infections etc has seriously dropped to almost no new cases.
And if you wanted to travel to China right right now, could you? No, because you would not be let in, right?
I understand that 8 weeks is a significant amount of time ans that maybe France & Switzerland are this far behind China in "the curve" but that's only true if measures "sharp enough to stop the spread have been implemented. If measures implemented are not sharp enough to stop the spread, but good enough to flatten the curve so emergency services are not overloaded, there then will be a lot of cases for much longer than appears to be the case in China right now. Well, and if measures don't sufficiently bite and the infections run away, it will end faster but a lot deadlier.
In either case once Egypt takes this seriously (which it seems they now do), are you hopefull that in 2 weeks time they let you enter the country and if so, let you do so w/o mandated quarantine? And once you are in, are you hopeful either France or Switzerland will let you come back in and if so, w/o mandated quarantine? It might be the case, but if you are hoping for that you are pretty optimistic - I'd say. One thing a large enough number of deaths tends to do is to wake politicians and more authoritarian types up. Hasn't necessarily occurred everywhere yet, but will. And then more drastic measures than would have been initially necessary will get implemented.

Anyway, nobody can know right now how things look like in 2 months, Except it is absolutely certain that they do not look good for travel, unless a vaccine or cure is available.
Why?
Well, for example look at China. Even if you are so inclined as to take their numbers at face value (nobody can take anyone's numbers at face value the tested cases are far less than the actual infected cases averywhere), than you'd be left with about 80k to 100k cured people. Just fotlr kicks 10 fold that, make it a million. That still leaves 1,438 or so million of people there that are not immune yet. Meaning, yes their economy has to restart somehow, but, they'll be careful about who comes in and does what.
Likely will anyone else.
That aside, sitting on an airplane (even if you can) or in an LOB iright now is a bit like asking to get infected or to infect others imho.

If and when there is a vaccine or a cure of sorts or economies get so desperate that the number of death becomes acceptable that may change. If and when there is a test that shows if one is immune now, there may be differing regulations for those. Until then I don't count on travelling in any group kind of setting and I coun't on more restrictions, not less to enter countries (each way). Do I think that will have changed dramatically for the better in 2 months? Not at all. But I hope I am wrong. It's not like I know anything anyone else doesn't.

Anyway, if I were you I'd wait unril closer to the time at which you'd lose your 50% refund. If you luck out (in that sense only, I do with the very Best to Egypt and all Egyptians), the Egyptian government will not allow foreigners in before that time is up and you may be able to convince your LOB to give you a full refund... if they still are in a position to do so. The risk of course is that the longer you wait, the higher the risk that you may not get your 50% back (if businesses go bust it tends to get hard for individuals to get much of their money back).
 
A bird in hand is with two in the bush. Take the 50% and be done with it, sunk cost and all. It just takes an illness of a key person or two to cause any small company to be dissolved, even if the boat is not affected. You yourself could catch the virus and not be in shape to dive at the time of the excursion.
 
Other threads are adopting the view that any non-essential (ie holiday) travel should probably be put on hold for 2020. Too many unknowns at the moment and it is simply not worth the risk to society as a whole. More importantly is the likelihood that travel insurance will not cover anything covid-19 related. While I love LOB diving, I was on a boat a couple of years ago when a nasty bug went through passengers and crew within a few days. I can tell you that it was no fun at all. Be safe, stay home and be patient.
 
Other threads are adopting the view that any non-essential (ie holiday) travel should probably be put on hold for 2020. Too many unknowns at the moment and it is simply not worth the risk to society as a whole. More importantly is the likelihood that travel insurance will not cover anything covid-19 related. While I love LOB diving, I was on a boat a couple of years ago when a nasty bug went through passengers and crew within a few days. I can tell you that it was no fun at all. Be safe, stay home and be patient.

I believe that I was with you on that trip. I didn't suffer as much on the boat as some of your friends had but wasn't over it for another 6weeks or more. One of my friends pushed himself and unfortunately can no longer dive because of damage to his ears.
 
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