Egypt’s average number of daily coronavirus infections, deaths hits 5, 2 respectively

CAIRO – 21 May 2022: Egypt’s Ministry of Health said on Saturday that the average number of daily coronavirus infections and deaths has hit five and two respectively over the past week.

In a statement, the ministry said the average number of daily recoveries reached 23 people after they received the required medical care, recording a total of 445,591 recoveries since the start of the pandemic.

The number of people who are fully vaccinated against coronavirus reached 34,874,799, the ministry said, urging citizens to register their information at the ministry’s website: https://egcovac.mohp.gov.eg/#/registration to receive the vaccine.

The number of people who received the first dose of the vaccine has reached 45,304,489, while 3,068,048 booster shots have been administered to citizens, according to the ministry.

“Coronavirus vaccines contribute to protecting all family members from severe infections with coronavirus and its variants,” the ministry said, addressing citizens.

The ministry also stressed that the Egyptian state spares no effort in providing vaccines to citizens for free within the framework of the ministry’s keenness to protect the health of citizens.

Egypt has seen a decline in coronavirus infections and deaths as well as hospitalization rates over the past weeks.

On 14 April, Egypt’s Qena governorate has been declared free from coronavirus for the first time since the outbreak of the virus in March 2022, said the Ministry of Health and Population in a statement.

The ministry added that all the PCR samples for suspected cases or travelers in the governorate tested negative for the virus over the past 15 days.

The ministry attributed the reason to the high vaccination rates and booster doses given to citizens. He added that medical teams across the governorate’s hospitals commit to their national duty to deliver the vaccine to all citizens.

On 6 April, the ministry also declared the northern Egyptian governorate of Beheira free from coronavirus cases for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

Beheira has been one of the Egyptian governorates with the highest coronavirus vaccination rates, the ministry said, quoting Hany Gemeia, deputy undersecretary of the ministry in Beheira.

Sisi inaugurates Egypt's 'Future Project for Agricultural Production' implemented over 1 M feddans

CAIRO – 21 May 2022: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi attended a ceremony on Saturday to inaugurate Egypt's 'Future Project for Agricultural Production' at Dabaa-Rod El Farag road.

Egypt's 'Future Project for Agricultural Production' comprises more than a million feddans, which represents around 50 percent of the New Delta agricultural project, Bahaa El-Ghannam, the director of the project said during the ceremony.

The first phase of the project has been implemented over the past four years and comprises 350,000 feddans, Ghannam said.

He noted that 700,000 feddans will be already reclaimed within the project during this year.

The project will comprise 350,000 feddans cultivated by wheat by 2024, which will produce 1 million tons of the strategic crop.

During the ceremony, President Sisi urged intensifying efforts within the framework of the project to be fully implemented by 2023.

The national agricultural projects being implemented at a "very high" cost seek to provide job opportunities, including in the neediest governorates of Beni Suef and Minya, besides securing agricultural crops, Sisi said.

“I am in a challenge to meet my people and nation’s needs,” Sisi said, adding: “It is a pledge that I adhere to and seek to fulfill.”

Responding to critics of state's sequence of national priorities and infrastructure projects, Sisi affirmed the need that people understand the projects within a scientific and good planning context.

“Please, do not sit with your legs crossed and speak about topics that you are not well-informed of,” the president said.

He added that people could not have endured the lack of electricity, road networks, and good food production over the past years if all state resources had been allocated for education, despite it being undoubtedly a very important issue.

The 'Future Project for Agricultural Production’ is part of the New Delta agricultural project which is implemented over an area of 2.2 million feddans with the aim of securing strategic and other crops.

Achieving self-sufficiency of wheat

Last month, Sisi made an inspection tour in Toshka agricultural lands in the South Valley of Upper Egypt’s Aswan early to witnesses the start of the wheat harvest season.

Sisi then gave the green light for the opening of some wheat silos via video in several governorates and watched a documentary on Egypt’s achievements to secure the wheat needed for local consumption.

Given its expected economic returns and significance in achieving food security for Egyptian people, the Toshka project in Upper Egypt’s Aswan was revived by Sisi in 2014 to become a giant development project after two decades of futility.

The Toshka project, located in the South Valley in Aswan and believed to be the largest of its type in the region, aims at achieve self-sufficiency in wheat, a basic commodity that has been highly affected by the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

The crisis has affected the wheat supply globally, especially as the two warring countries are one of the largest wheat exporters worldwide. Egypt has depended over the past years on Russia and Ukraine for about 80 percent of its wheat imports, according to officials.

Egypt has cultivated 217,700 feddans of agricultural lands as part of the project that produce around 550,000 tons of wheat annually, according to the documentary.

Egypt has also established seven new wheat silos with a total storage capacity of 420,000 tons in Arab Al-Olaikat area in Qalyubia, Bani Salamah in Giza, New Salhia city in Sharqia, and Abu Suwir in Ismailia as well as in the areas of San El-Hagar, El-Hammam, and Kharga.

During the inauguration ceremony, Egypt's Supply Minister Ali Moselhi said Egypt has been able to build resilience to external shocks during the inflation the resulted from the pandemic as well as the Ukrainian-Russian crisis thanks to relevant measures in this regard.

Despite the international shocks, Egypt has strategic wheat reserves that can last until January next year, he said.

Thanks to the project of establishing wheat silos since 2014, storage capacity has increased to 3.4 million tons of wheat from 1.2 million tons in 2014, Moselhi said.