Cairo, one of the region’s largest cities that never sleeps, is now being forced to bed in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus through its some 20 million residents.

Its busy thoroughfares are quiet under a nationwide curfew, but the country has backed off from implementing a full lockdown for fear of leaving the informal economy’s many day-workers without income.

During the day, life almost looks normal in some places. But despite mitigating measures, many are already facing joblessness.

“Everything collapsed in a flash,” said Sayed el-Gabri, a souvenir vendor, as he stared at the almost empty complex of Egypt’s famed Giza Pyramids.

The empty Giza Pyramids on lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak in Egypt. Like many other places in the world, the ripples of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic could end up drowning the vulnerable in Egypt. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

It was not unexpected, but the evaporation of the stream of visitors to the ancient site was still a shock to him and other tourism workers. He saw it coming, as the government stepped up its measures to slow the new coronavirus’ spread, culminating in a ban on all international flights in and out of the country. But there was little he could do.

Like many other places in the world, the ripples of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic could end up drowning the vulnerable in Egypt. The partial lockdown threatens the livelihoods for many of Egypt’s 100 million population, one of three of whom were already living in poverty, according to government figures.

It seems particularly cruel for those who were just recently seeing an improvement in living conditions after the downturn that followed the country’s 2011 popular uprising.

The Cairo International Airport after the government ordered a travel ban for preventative measures due to Coronavirus, in Egypt. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

“We were just recovering,” the 42-year-old father of four said. He was making up to 900 Egyptian pounds ($57) a week, on which he and his family lived. But that’s all gone.

Since early March, the government has shuttered schools, mosques, churches and archaeological sites, and ordered restaurants, coffee shops, malls and gyms to close to encourage people to stay home and slow the virus’ spread. A curfew is in place from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has pleaded with citizens to practice social distancing and stay at home to help the government fight the spread of the virus. But that’s a tall order in the concentrated urban centers, where most of the country’s population resides, and where many are daily wage earners.

Egyptian security forces cordon off roads during curfew hours as prevention measures due to the coronavirus outbreak, in Cairo, Egypt. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

Still, the 6-feet social distancing has become impossible at times in Cairo, a city of more than 20 million people, and other metropolitan areas across the Arab World’s most populous country. Riders are seen sitting or standing in trains and buses with a few inches of each other, most not wearing face masks or gloves.

El-Sissi has said he will not implement a full lockdown for fear of the economic implications. Egypt has had more than 1,320 coronavirus cases including dozens of foreigners, and at least 85 deaths, among them several tourists and two senior military officers. Like elsewhere, it’s estimated that the true figures could be much higher due to the lack of widespread testing.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild to moderate symptoms such as fever and cough. But for some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause pneumonia and lead to death.

In Cairo’s busy metropolis, life goes on during the daylight hours, if with a bit of hesitancy. Roads see rather steady, rather than the typical standstill traffic. Party boats on the river Nile continue to blare music, even if they’re carrying no passengers. Many markets in the city’s poorer neighborhoods are still bustling.

At night, though, the difference is stark in the capital’s crowded commercial downtown, where shops’ shutters are drawn and locked and the cacophony of the normally crowded streets is conspicuously absent.

Like governments around the world, Egypt’s is trying to cushion the economic blow. It has allocated 100 billion pounds (over $63.5 million USD) to overcoming the virus and its effects. The Central Bank also ordered the largest interest rate cut in its history. But there are worries that might not be enough.

A couple walk on Kasr El Nile Bridge near a lit hotel displaying a heart for the coronavirus outbreak, in Cairo, Egypt. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

“The pandemic will take Egyptians from an unhappy economic situation into a desperate one,” said Michele Dunne, senior fellow and director of Middle East Program at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. For some, the damage is already done.

Abdel Karim Sayed, a coffee shop owner in Cairo, said he has placed half of his employees on furlough, and cut the others’ wages by a third. He says his workers understood that it was a necessity to keep the place open, and he knows other business owners who are doing the same.

“We are all financially ruined,” he said.