The World Health Organization has put Egypt at a lower level in terms of the risk of a coronavirus pandemic, Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed said at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Egypt reported a relatively small number of coronavirus infections after the peak of the third wave of the pandemic.
Currently, 283,320 cases of the disease and 16,412 cases have been registered in the country since the initial outbreak in February last year. During a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Zayed said that Egypt had received 500,000 doses of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine last week, and another 1 million doses would be available by the end of next week.
Zayed said 700,000 doses of the vaccine would be given to Egypt through the Global Access to COVID-19 Vaccines (COVAX), as well as another 250,000 doses of AstraZeneca. Last week, the WHO praised Egypt for producing the first 1 million doses of Sinovac and for the country’s plan to vaccinate 40 million people by the end of the year.
A health ministry spokesman said Sunday that Egypt would receive 2 million doses of Pfizer by the end of the week, saying the doses would only be used for travel.