About a third of Egypt’s population of more than 100 million people have received a first shot of anti-Covid-19 vaccines, a Cabinet minister said on Thursday.
Higher Education Minister Khaled Abdel Ghafar said 33.77 million have been jabbed at least once since the vaccination campaign began nearly a year ago and that 20.94 million Egyptians have been fully vaccinated, he told a Cabinet meeting.
He said another 2.73 million people aged between 12 and 18 have been vaccinated since the government decided to include them in its vaccination drive late last month.
The minister’s figures show a sharp increase in the number of people fully vaccinated, which was about 14 million just weeks ago.
The latest figures, meanwhile, follow the detection earlier this month of three local cases of the Omicron variant.
Mr Abdel Ghafar said the three people infected by the variant arrived in Egypt on December 4. It was not clear from where they had arrived.
Egypt has officially reported 377,960 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic in early 2020 and 21,500 deaths.
However, the actual figures are believed to be much higher since authorities record only those treated by the state health sector.
Egyptian school reopen – in pictures
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Pupils attend the first day of school at the Notre Dame school in Cairo. All photos by EPA -
Egypt began a new academic year for schools and universities on Saturday, its second amid the pandemic. -
Authorities have announced strict measures for schools, including social distancing and wearing of masks. -
Vaccinations will begin soon for pupils aged below 18, reports say. -
More than 1.6 million workers in the education sector have already received a first vaccine dose, Egypt's ministry of education has said. -
Schools are also teaching pupils about preventing Covid-19, as part of measures to raise awareness. -
Egypt introduced a nationwide vaccination campaign in January.
