Egypt negotiates with India, China to manufacture coronavirus vaccines

CAIRO - 28 February 2021: Egypt is negotiating with India and China to manufacture coronavirus vaccines, said Dr. Noha Assem, the advisor to the Minister of Health, told “Men Al Kahera” talk show on “Sky News Arabia” on Saturday.

She added that Egypt has passed the peak of the second wave of the infection, noting that the situation in Egypt is better than in other countries.

The Health Ministry said Saturday that 588 new coronavirus cases were detected, upping the total number of confirmed cases to 181,829.

In a statement, Spokesman for the Health Ministry Khaled Megahed said 49 patients have died from the virus over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 10,639.

As many as 533 patients were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care, taking the number of recovered cases to 140,460 so far, the spokesman said.

Egyptian senior citizens (aged above 40) will be able to register for anti-Coronavirus vaccine online starting from Sunday.

After finalizing the vaccination of medical staff at 40 quarantine hospitals for free, the state’s vaccination plan starts on Sunday for high-priority citizens. The registration to get the vaccine is done either online (http://mohpegypt.com) or at certain health facilities. Afterwards, citizens get informed about the time and place where they will receive the vaccine.

The eligible citizens have to take two shots of the vaccine (21 days apart) at a cost of LE 200 (US$ 12.73) per shot.

In media remarks to Kelma Akhira (Final Word) talk show on ON T.V. on February 23, Egyptian Ministry of Health Hala Abu Zeid said that the ministry is targeting to vaccinate 40 million people aged above 35-40 by the end of 2021. The ministry is targeting 65% of citizens under the age of 35, she added.

Recently, Egypt has received a vaccine shipment – consisting of 300,000 doses - granted by China.  During a phone call between President Abdel Fatah El Sisi, President Xi Jinping affirmed China’s readiness to share its experience in facing the pandemic with Egypt and to supply the Egyptian state with its coronavirus vaccine needs.

Egypt already received 50,000 Sinopharm vaccine doses in December, the first vaccine batch to enter the country for the mass vaccination purpose. Also, it has reserved in principle 10 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, shortly after the country has approved it, according to reports.