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Egypt Calls for Vaccinating All Tourism Sector Employees

Tourists at the Giza pyramids (Reuters)
Tourists at the Giza pyramids (Reuters)
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Egypt Calls for Vaccinating All Tourism Sector Employees

Tourists at the Giza pyramids (Reuters)
Tourists at the Giza pyramids (Reuters)

The Egyptian Health Ministry said on Monday that all tourism sector workers in Luxor and Aswan governorates should be vaccinated against the coronavirus during August.

Health Minister Hala Zayed gave the directives while she inspected the isolation unit at Luxor International Airport.

Health Ministry Spokesman Khaled Megahed said in a statement that Zayed stressed the Prime Minister’s decision not to allow any visitor to enter the country before showing a negative PCR test or a certificate proving they have been vaccinated with both doses of the COVID-19 jabs at least 14 days before arriving in Egypt.

Zayed said that 17,139 visitors have been so far quarantined at Luxor Airport.

Also on Monday, Advisor to Minister of Health for Information Technology Aysam Salah said the vaccine certificate cannot be forged because it has a QR code with the photo and identity of the person.

During an interview with a local TV channel, Salah said the certificates aim to help Egyptians traveling abroad to prove that they have been vaccinated.

Egypt recorded on Monday 49 new COVID-19 cases and four deaths, bringing the total number of infections to 284,311, including 230,699 recoveries and 16,528 deaths.

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UNRWA Lebanon Says Not Impacted by US Aid Freeze or New Israeli Law

Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)
Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)
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UNRWA Lebanon Says Not Impacted by US Aid Freeze or New Israeli Law

Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)
Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)

The director of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon said on Wednesday that the agency had not been affected by US President Donald Trump's halt to US foreign aid funding or by an Israeli ban on its operations.

"UNRWA currently is not receiving any US funding so there is no direct impact of the more recent decisions related to the UN system for UNRWA," Dorothee Klaus told reporters at UNRWA's field office in Lebanon.

US funding to UNRWA was suspended last year until March 2025 under a deal reached by US lawmakers and after Israel accused 12 of the agency's 13,000 employees in Gaza of participating in the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war.

The UN has said it had fired nine UNRWA staff who may have been involved and said it would investigate all accusations made.

Klaus said that UNRWA Lebanon had also placed four staff members on administrative leave as it investigated allegations they had breached the UN principle of neutrality.

One UNRWA teacher had already been suspended last year and a Hamas commander in Lebanon - killed in September in an Israeli strike - was found to have had an UNRWA job.

Klaus also said there was "no direct impact" on the agency's Lebanon operations from a new Israeli law banning UNRWA operations in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and that "UNRWA will continue fully operating in Lebanon."

The law, adopted in October, bans UNRWA's operation on Israeli land - including East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognized internationally - and contact with Israeli authorities from Jan. 30.

UNRWA provides aid, health and education services to millions in the Palestinian territories and neighboring Arab countries of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Its commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said on Tuesday that UNRWA has been the target of a "fierce disinformation campaign" to "portray the agency as a terrorist organization."