Egypt’s Minister of Health Hala Zayed announced that the ministry has successfully vaccinated medical teams in 22 quarantine hospitals nationwide and is now ready to move onto phase two, which includes medical staff at chest and fever hospitals.
During ajoint press conference with Sports Minister Ashraf Sobhy and President of the International Handball Federation Hassan Mostafa to celebrate Egypt’s success in organizing the World Handball Championship, Zayed added that the vaccination plan for medical staff will take place across 363 hospitals during the coming period.
She added that the government plans to cover 100 percent of the medical staff in government hospitals and the private sector for free.
According to Zayed, additional quantities of the coronavirus vaccine are expected to arrive in Egypt on Thursday.
Zayed pointed out a decline in coronavirus cases over the past week, saying that the occupancy rate of respirators in isolation hospitals now stands at just 30 percent.
The ministry will soon begin vaccinating those with chronic diseases and the elderly.
Egypt vaccination campaign launched on January 24. The country is primarily using China’s Sinopharm vaccine, but will expand to using the UK’s AstraZeneca soon.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
