Almost at every corner in Egypt, cafes used to serve millions of people on a daily basis. Hookah lovers would sit for hours smoking tobacco while busying themselves with their mobile phones or watching TV. Those who have a passion for soccer would simply sit in rows watching their favorite sport live on big screens.

The coronavirus pandemic has put an end to all of these scenes in a country that used to stay up until all hours of the morning. Many cafes that used to stay open all day have changed their businesses from serving hookah to selling fruit and vegetables or detergents.

In the old Fatimid Cairo area where tourists used to swarm cafes to savor the taste of Egyptian tobacco, there is no more puffing — which was a local habit that began in the 19th century, as British traveler Edward William Lane (1801-1876) narrated in his “Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians.”

“I don’t know what happened really. This is like a nightmare for me. I used to earn around 3,000 pounds ($190) per day just a few months ago. The coronavirus pandemic has changed my whole life altogether. I had to switch to selling detergents as I have no other income resources,” Mohamed Khalaf, an owner of a cafe in Cairo, told Al-Monitor.