عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Egypt Allocates Mobile COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics for Elderly, Pensioners

Egyptian ministers inspect Hurghada Airport (Facebook)
Egyptian ministers inspect Hurghada Airport (Facebook)
TT
TT

Egypt Allocates Mobile COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics for Elderly, Pensioners

Egyptian ministers inspect Hurghada Airport (Facebook)
Egyptian ministers inspect Hurghada Airport (Facebook)

The Egyptian Health Ministry on Wednesday announced launching mobile clinics to provide coronavirus vaccine shots to the elderly and pensioners.

The mobile clinics will be stationed in front of post offices and pension and insurance offices in all governorates to make it easier for the elderly and those suffering from chronic diseases to get the jabs, the Ministry said.

As for home vaccinations, they will be carried out by well-trained teams.

The clinics are equipped with two data entry points to electronically register pensioners, and devices to check blood pressure and blood sugar before administering the vaccine.

The ministry has further allocated more than 400 vaccination centers nationwide and urged citizens to register to get the jabs.

Egypt’s local production of the first batch of the Chinese Sinovac coronavirus vaccine will start by the end of June, according to Health Minister Hala Zayed.

Ministry spokesman Khaled Mujahid said once the production of the first batch is completed, it will be sent to the Egyptian Drug Authority for analysis.

Mujahid said Chinese experts are in Egypt to supervise the manufacturing process and transfer expertise to both the Egyptian Holding Co. for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA) and the Egyptian Drug Authority.

He added that Egypt is one of the first countries in the world to manufacture the Sinovac vaccine following an agreement reached in April.

He stressed clinical trials had been conducted on the jab and that competitive prices were fixed in the agreement.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
TT
TT

Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.