Egypt starts examining 1 million AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines delivered from Argentina

CAIRO – 14 January 2022: Egypt’s Health Ministry started examining one million doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, which arrived in Egypt hours ago through Cairo International Airport, provided by Argentina.

This comes within the state's plan to diversify and expand the provision of coronavirus vaccines, in order to preserve the state's gains in addressing the pandemic.

Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, the official spokesman for the Ministry of Health, explained that the shipment is subject to the necessary analyzes and checks in the laboratories of the Egyptian Drug Authority.

This seeks to ensure the safety and effectiveness of vaccines before they are approved and presented in the vaccination centers nationwide, Abdel Ghaffar said.

Egypt has been able to secure all types of coronavirus vaccines, including Sinovac, Sinopharm, AstraZeneca, Sputnik, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Moderna, as part of the state's plan for diversification and expansion in providing coronavirus vaccines.

Egypt reported on Thursday over 1,000 new coronavirus cases for the first time since May 30, according to figures released by the Ministry of Health.

The Health Ministry said 1,011 new coronavirus infections were detected, upping the total number of confirmed cases reported in Egypt since the beginning of the outbreak to 396,699.

In a statement, Spokesman for the Health Ministry Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said 21 patients have died from the virus over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 22,063.

As many as 912 patients were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care, taking the number of recovered cases to 330,714 so far, the spokesman said.