363 New Hospitals for Coronavirus Patients in Egypt

A health worker in Egypt taking COVID-19 vaccine (Ministry of Health)
A health worker in Egypt taking COVID-19 vaccine (Ministry of Health)
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363 New Hospitals for Coronavirus Patients in Egypt

A health worker in Egypt taking COVID-19 vaccine (Ministry of Health)
A health worker in Egypt taking COVID-19 vaccine (Ministry of Health)

Egypt has established 363 hospitals for COVID-19 patients, according to the health ministry.

Health Minister Hala Zayed said the hospitals have 35,000 beds, 4,500 intensive care beds and 2,500 ventilators and will be supplied by 200 additional ones.

The ministry said it recorded 643 new COVID-19 cases and 55 deaths, raising the infection tally by Tuesday to 163,129, including 127,433 recoveries, and the death toll to 9,067.

Meanwhile, the cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) issued a report on Wednesday noting that Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has stressed the importance of applying the preventive measures inside malls, restaurants and coffee shops.

This comes in line with the state’s attempts not to go into a total lockdown and avoid its economic impact on people’s lives.

According to the IDSC, Egypt is ranked 62 out of 215 regions and countries in the number of coronavirus infections and 10th in fatalities.

Zayed also announced that 527 health workers in 15 hospitals have so far taken their first dose of Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm’s vaccine.

Dr. Khaled Mujahid, advisor to the Minister of Health and Population for Media Affairs, said the vaccination mechanism includes registering information of the vaccine recipients at the hospital where they work, measuring their blood pressure and checking their health condition, and giving them a follow-up document to receive the second dose after 21 days.

“The vaccinated person’s health status is monitored periodically by specialized medical teams,” he added, noting that these vaccines are given to health workers for free.

Egypt launched Sunday the COVID-19 vaccination campaign to healthcare workers in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia.



Civilian Groups Demand Int’l Intervention to Stop Violations in Sudan

Smoke billows from fighting in Khartoum, Sudan. (AFP file)
Smoke billows from fighting in Khartoum, Sudan. (AFP file)
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Civilian Groups Demand Int’l Intervention to Stop Violations in Sudan

Smoke billows from fighting in Khartoum, Sudan. (AFP file)
Smoke billows from fighting in Khartoum, Sudan. (AFP file)

The Sudanese Coordination of Civil Democratic Forces (Tagadum) condemned on Tuesday the army’s series of strikes on a number of regions in the country that left nearly 500 people dead.

The military carried out raids on the central city of al-Hasaheisa in the al-Jazirah state, Hamra al-Sheikh in North Kordofan, and Kutum and Mellit in North Darfur. Meanwhile, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fired artillery at the army-held region of al-Hatana in Omdurman.

The Emergency Lawyers group said around 100 people, including women and children, were killed in the army raids on al-Hasaheisa.

It strongly condemned the strikes on al-Jazirah, Sennar, White Nile, West and North Darfur and North Kordofan, deeming the continued attacks a war crime and flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.

It called on the international community to intervene immediately to stop the violations, save civilian lives and pressure the army to stop targeting markets and other civilian areas.

The army says it is targeting RSF locations. The RSF, meanwhile, says it is using artillery to attack army units. However, witnesses and videos shot by the people, contradict the claims, with the recordings showing the corpse of women, children and the elderly in areas that are being targeted by the warring parties.

The National Umma Party, one of Sudan’s largest parties, slammed in a statement on Tuesday the “horrific” violations in the war, demanding the army and RSF to fulfill their past commitments – a reference to the Jeddah Humanitarian Declaration signed in May 2023 through Saudi and American mediation.

Tagadum regretted that the warring parties continue to target civilians, calling on them to “seriously and sincerely” return to negotiations to end the war and suffering of the people.