Egypt Prepares COVID-19 Testing Centers at Airports

A man receives a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus disease in Cairo (Reuters)
A man receives a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus disease in Cairo (Reuters)
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Egypt Prepares COVID-19 Testing Centers at Airports

A man receives a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus disease in Cairo (Reuters)
A man receives a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus disease in Cairo (Reuters)

Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism established coronavirus PCR testing centers in some Egyptian airports near touristic cities.

Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled El-Anani said that all residents of South Sinai and the Red Sea will be vaccinated by the end of June, noting that all workers in the tourism sectors in those governorates received their jabs.

The Minister added that inoculation of tourism workers has started in Cairo, Giza, Luxor, and Aswan, stressing that coronavirus test centers have been established in some Egyptian airports.

Tourists will be able to take their PCR test upon arrival, at a reduced price, in addition to the possibility of conducting antibody tests upon request before departing for their countries.

Anani expects a boom in the rates of Russian and Ukrainian tourists to South Sinai and Red Sea governorates, noting that there is a noticeable turnout during the current period of tourists from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Belarus.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly stressed that the government will exert all efforts to support the tourism sector while maintaining the precautionary and preventive measures that will be adopted internationally to restore the safe tourism movement during the pandemic.

Madbouly was speaking Friday on the sidelines of the inauguration of the first forum of heads of African investment agencies in Sharm El-Sheikh.

The Health Ministry said 755 new coronavirus cases were detected on Thursday, raising the total number of confirmed cases since the outbreak in the country began to 271,047, including 199,285 recoveries and 15,510 deaths.

Egypt has until now received 5.6 million doses of AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, and Sinovac vaccines.



Over 100 Patients to Be Evacuated from Gaza, WHO Says

 A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Over 100 Patients to Be Evacuated from Gaza, WHO Says

 A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

More than 100 patients including children will be transferred out of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in a rare medical evacuation from the Palestinian enclave during the Israel-Hamas war, a World Health Organization official said on Tuesday.

The WHO says fewer than 300 patients have been evacuated from Gaza since early May, when Israel expanded its military offensive southwards and took over the southern Rafah Crossing with Egypt, which had been used for medical transfers.

Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said the patients, including children with trauma injuries and chronic diseases, would depart in a large convoy via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel.

Under arrangements made by the WHO, the patients will then fly to the United Arab Emirates from Ramon Airport in southern Israel, and some will travel on to Romania, he said.

"These are ad hoc measures. What we have requested repeatedly is a sustained medevac (medical evacuation) outside of Gaza," Peeperkorn told a press conference.

Asked whether Israel had approved the transfer, he said he was hopeful it would be facilitated by Israeli authorities.

He said more than 12,000 people were awaiting transfer, adding: "We cannot continue the way we do now."

COGAT, the Israeli military agency responsible for Palestinian affairs, says it actively facilitates the departure of seriously ill or injured patients, adding that the scope of such evacuations was determined by the capacity of organizations and countries to receive them.

As of last week, it said 10 groups of patients had been evacuated through Israel and it was willing to coordinate more.

Peeperkorn was part of a WHO convoy that on Nov. 3 provided some relief for the busy al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals in northern Gaza which he said were barely operational because of medical and staff shortages.

"For al-Awda we are very concerned because the hospital needs urgent fuel and medical supplies, otherwise it might become non-functional over the coming week," he said of the hospital in Jabalia, just north of Gaza City.

Israel accuses Hamas fighters of hiding among civilians, including in hospitals, in the war that began after the deadly Hamas attack on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023.

In a night-time raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital last month, an Israeli military official said around 100 Hamas fighters were captured, some posing as medical staff, along with weapons. Hamas rejected the accusations.