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Egypt Says Treatment Equipment at Isolation Hospitals are Available

A man disinfects a mosque in Cairo. DPA file photo
A man disinfects a mosque in Cairo. DPA file photo
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Egypt Says Treatment Equipment at Isolation Hospitals are Available

A man disinfects a mosque in Cairo. DPA file photo
A man disinfects a mosque in Cairo. DPA file photo

The Egyptian Health Ministry confirmed on Friday that medical teams and treatment supplies were available in isolation hospitals and other medical centers providing services for COVID-19 patients, stressing that vaccination was important to stop the spread of the pandemic.

Health Minister Hala Zayed said she advised the delivery of oxygen concentrators to patients quarantining at home as part of the ministry’s policy to provide the best level of medical services.

Zayed said the Ministry is continuing to respect all preventive measures against the coronavirus at all hospitals.

“There is a need to keep a stock of medical equipment and treatment supplies sufficient for two months in every hospital receiving COVID-19 patients,” she said.

During the past 24 hours, Egypt detected 837 coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of confirmed infections since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country to 213,798.

Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said in a statement that 41 patients died from complications caused by the disease, raising the death toll to 12,611.

Also, 439 patients were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care, taking the number of recovered cases to 161,470 so far.

The Ministry had emphasized the importance of committing to COVID-19 precautionary measures during the holy month of Ramadan by avoiding crowded areas such as stores and malls.

Alaa Eid, head of the preventive healthcare sector, urged on Thursday all residents to get vaccinated, stressing the need to reduce family gatherings, especially for the elderly and those with chronic illness.

Eid explained that two Vacsera factories will soon begin to manufacture a coronavirus vaccine and that experiments on the manufacture of the vaccine are currently underway.

“In October 2020, Egypt’s Minister of Health Hala Zayed began communicating with the Chinese Health Ministry about producing the vaccine,” he said.

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Syria's New Foreign Minister to Appear at the UN in His First US Visit

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, left, and Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi attend a round table meeting at the 9th international conference in support of Syria at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, left, and Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi attend a round table meeting at the 9th international conference in support of Syria at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
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Syria's New Foreign Minister to Appear at the UN in His First US Visit

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, left, and Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi attend a round table meeting at the 9th international conference in support of Syria at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, left, and Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi attend a round table meeting at the 9th international conference in support of Syria at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani was set to raise his country’s new flag at the United Nations headquarters in New York Friday and to attend a UN Security Council briefing, the first public appearance by a high-ranking Syrian government official in the United States since the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a lightning opposition offensive in December.

The three-starred flag that had previously been used by opposition groups has replaced the two-starred flag of the Assad era as the country's official emblem, the Associated Press said.

The new authorities in Damascus have been courting Washington in hopes of receiving relief from harsh sanctions that were imposed by the US and its allies in the wake of Assad’s brutal crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011 that spiraled into a civil war.

A delegation of Syrian officials traveled to the United States this week to attend World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington and UN meetings in New York. It was unclear if Trump administration officials would meet with al-Shibani during the visit.

The Trump administration has yet to officially recognize the current Syrian government, led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, who led the offensive that toppled Assad. Washington has also so far left the sanctions in place, although it has provided temporary relief to some restrictions. The opposition group al-Sharaa led, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, remains a US-designated terrorist organization.

Two Republican members of the US Congress, Rep. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana and Rep. Cory Mills of Florida, arrived in Damascus last week on an unofficial visit organized by a Syrian-American nonprofit and met with al-Sharaa and other government officials.

Mills told The Associated Press before meeting with al-Sharaa that “ultimately, it’s going to be the president’s decision” to lift sanctions or not, although he said that “Congress can advise.”

Mills later told Bloomberg News that he had discussed the US conditions for sanctions relief with al-Sharaa, including ensuring the destruction of chemical weapons left over from the Assad era, coordinating on counter-terrorism, making a plan to deal with foreign militants who fought alongside the armed opposition to Assad, and providing assurances to Israel that Syria would not pose a threat.

He also said that al-Sharaa had said Syria could normalize relations with Israel “under the right conditions,” without specifying what those conditions are.

Other Western countries have warmed up to the new Syrian authorities more quickly. The British government on Thursday lifted sanctions against a dozen Syrian entities, including government departments and media outlets, and the European Union has begun to roll back its sanctions.