Egypt to establish national institute for medical research with Harvard University

CAIRO – 28 April 2021: Egypt’s Health Minister Hala Zayed said on Tuesday that cooperation is underway with the Harvard University’s Faculty of Medicine to establish a national institute for health and medical research.

The institute will be set up in the New Administrative Capital, east of Cairo, a statement by the Health Ministry read.

The institute will offer training opportunities for doctors in Egypt and, therefore help them to offer better services to patients.

The health ministry spokesman, Khaled Megahed, said the institute will include a center for general health researches and another center for clinical researches.

This comes while the country is facing a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, which, according to Zayed earlier this month, globally represents a surge in cases and deaths.

On Tuesday, Egypt reported 1,003 new coronavirus cases, the highest in more than three months.

In total, the country has reported 224,517 cases and 13,168 related deaths since the pandemic started.

The country has started its vaccination campaign in January and allows anyone above 18 living in Egypt to register to take the vaccine.

Currently, the focus is on medical workers, the elderly and people suffering from chronic diseases.

The country has received more than 1.5 million vaccine doses from Sinopharm and AstraZeneca and is planning to receive millions others during the coming period.