Egypt Urges Citizens to Get Vaccinated

A healthcare worker holds a syringe and vaccine vial against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Cairo, Egypt March 4, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany/File Photo
A healthcare worker holds a syringe and vaccine vial against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Cairo, Egypt March 4, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany/File Photo
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Egypt Urges Citizens to Get Vaccinated

A healthcare worker holds a syringe and vaccine vial against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Cairo, Egypt March 4, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany/File Photo
A healthcare worker holds a syringe and vaccine vial against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Cairo, Egypt March 4, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany/File Photo

Egypt has renewed its call to take the coronavirus vaccine to be protected against COVID-19, amid instructions by the government to continue abiding by the preventative measures.

The Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population reported on Thursday 51 new coronavirus cases and seven deaths.

A total of 284,523 cases have been reported in Egypt, alongside 16,557 deaths and 232,280 recoveries.

As many as 101 patients were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care, taking the number of recovered cases to 232,280.

The ministry reiterated its call on the elderly and those suffering from illnesses to register on its website to receive the vaccine.

Egypt aims to vaccinate 40 percent of its population against the coronavirus by the end of 2021. More than 429 centers are available throughout the country to deliver the vaccine.

The health authorities urged citizens to continue to abide by the preventative precautions including wearing facemasks, maintaining social distancing, washing hands regularly, and abstaining from attending crowded places.

The ministry stressed that the vaccine may not prevent infection, but it can impact disease severity.

In a related context, Egypt urged mobilizing further resources to support the national health systems in Africa, as it continues to be among the most afflicted areas given the structural challenges it faces in providing medical services to citizens and dealing with other pandemics and diseases.



Women and Children Scavenge for Food in Gaza, UN Official Says

 Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
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Women and Children Scavenge for Food in Gaza, UN Official Says

 Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)

Large groups of women and children are scavenging for food among mounds of trash in parts of the Gaza Strip, a UN official said on Friday following a visit to the Palestinian enclave.

Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights office for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, expressed concern about the levels of hunger, even in areas of central Gaza where aid agencies have teams on the ground.

"I was particularly alarmed by the prevalence of hunger," Sunghay told a Geneva press briefing via video link from Jordan. "Acquiring basic necessities has become a daily, dreadful struggle for survival."

Sunghay said the UN had been unable to take any aid to northern Gaza, where he said an estimated 70,000 people remain following "repeated impediments or rejections of humanitarian convoys by the Israeli authorities".

Sunghay visited camps for people recently displaced from parts of northern Gaza. They were living in horrendous conditions with severe food shortages and poor sanitation, he said.

"It is so obvious that massive humanitarian aid needs to come in – and it is not. It is so important the Israeli authorities make this happen," he said. He did not specify the last time UN agencies had sent aid to northern Gaza.

US WARNING

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin set out steps last month for Israel to carry out in 30 days to address the situation in Gaza, warning that failure to do so may have consequences on US military aid to Israel.

The State Department said on Nov. 12 that President Joe Biden's administration had concluded that Israel was not currently impeding assistance to Gaza and therefore was not violating US law.

The Israeli army, which began its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the group's attack on southern Israeli communities in October 2023, said its operating in northern Gaza since Oct. 5 were trying to prevent militants regrouping and waging attacks from those areas.

Israel's government body that oversees aid, Cogat, says it facilitates the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and accuses UN agencies of not distributing it efficiently.

Looting has also depleted aid supplies within the Gaza Strip, with nearly 100 food aid trucks raided on Nov. 16.

"The women I met had all either lost family members, were separated from their families, had relatives buried under rubble, or were themselves injured or sick," Sunghay said of his stay in the Gaza Strip.

"Breaking down in front of me, they desperately pleaded for a ceasefire."