Egypt Announces the End of Daily Reporting on COVID-19 Statistics

The Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population has announced that there will longer be any daily reporting on COVID-19 statistics, however, weekly coverage will continue to provide detailed information on the status of the pandemic.

Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, the Egyptian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and acting Minister of Health and Population, has decided that numbers of COVID-19 infections, recoveries, and deaths will be issued every Saturday.

This decision was made in light of the recent decline in rates of infection and hospitalisation, according to Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, the official spokesperson from the Ministry of Health and Population.

Abdel Ghaffar has confirmed that the fifth wave of COVID-19 infections has been stagnating at a constant rate for two consecutive weeks. Last month, the rate of COVID-related hospital admissions declined by almost 40 percent amid this rapid decrease in daily infection rates.

The Ministry of Health and Population has also stressed the need to ensure the successful vaccination of all target groups in accordance with the issued timetable. Currently, more than 30 million people have been fully vaccinated, and almost 40 million have received their first dose as reported by the Ministry of Health and Population earlier this month.

Egypt is determined to vaccinate 70 percent of its eligible population by the second half of 2022. In a bid to ensure the successful implementation of this vaccination policy, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, together with the Ministry of Agriculture, and Eva Pharma, a leading Egyptian pharmaceutical company, have revealed the start of clinical trials of the first domestic vaccine COVI-VAX set to be manufactured via state-owned VACSERA drug company.

However, the Ministry of Health and Population has reiterated the necessity to adhere to precautionary measures and maintain personal hygiene to guarantee individual and societal protection from the spread of infectious disease, especially during the coming month of Ramadan.