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CAIRO, April 18 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian national carrier EgyptAir repatriated 216 Egyptian nationals from Canada amid efforts to protect expats from COVID-19 pandemic, an Egyptian health ministry official told Xinhua on Saturday.

"The 216 citizens arrived on board two EgyptAir planes in the Red Sea province and they have undergone medical check and are currently in a 14-day quarantine in Marsa Alam resort city," said Tamer Marei, Egyptian Health Ministry's undersecretary in the Red Sea province.

The planes left Canada's Toronto airport on Friday and arrived in Egypt's Marsa Alam airport on early Saturday morning.

EgyptAir runs exceptional flights to take Egyptian expats from other states amid growing infections with the novel coronavirus across the world.

Earlier in April, EgyptAir repatriated about 250 citizens from Washington and they have already finished their 14-day quarantine period.

Until Friday night, the Egyptian Health Ministry confirmed 2,844 COVID-19 cases, including 205 deaths and 646 recoveries. Enditem