Egypt’s Ministry of Health has launched an initiative, under the orders of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, to “follow up on domestic isolation cases of patients with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)”.
The move, which comes under the “100 million Healthy Lives” campaign, was part of the ministry’s concern for the health and safety of all patients with the virus.
The initiative aims to clinically monitor cases of patients who are undergoing home isolation. It covers those who have been diagnosed at Ministry of Health hospitals, as well as those confirmed to have the virus through a diagnosis by their own doctor and who are subject to home isolation.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) began, on Wednesday, registration procedures for the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, in preparation for its distribution in Egypt.
A source from the Ministry of Health said, in a press statement to state-run Al-Ahram newspaper, that the ministry had contracted to receive 40m doses to meet the needs of 20 million citizens.
He added that the contracted quantity will be supplied once the EDA has completed registration process and payments have been successfully processed.
It is expected that, in mid-January, the ministry will start vaccinating patients with kidney failure, oncology patients, those with chronic illnesses, and the elderly.
Egypt reported 1,119 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing the country’s total tally to 144,583 infections since the outbreak began in February.
The Ministry of Health also reported 55 new fatalities, bringing the total number of deaths from the virus to 7,918.
The statement said that 813 patients were discharged on Tuesday after recovering from the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to 115,414.
