Egypt Speeds Up Vaccination for University Students

A woman receives a dose of the vaccine against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at one of Youth centers that are open to citizens to get COVID-19 vaccines without prior registration in an effort to boost the country's vaccination drive, in Cairo, Egypt, September 27, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
A woman receives a dose of the vaccine against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at one of Youth centers that are open to citizens to get COVID-19 vaccines without prior registration in an effort to boost the country's vaccination drive, in Cairo, Egypt, September 27, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
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Egypt Speeds Up Vaccination for University Students

A woman receives a dose of the vaccine against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at one of Youth centers that are open to citizens to get COVID-19 vaccines without prior registration in an effort to boost the country's vaccination drive, in Cairo, Egypt, September 27, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
A woman receives a dose of the vaccine against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at one of Youth centers that are open to citizens to get COVID-19 vaccines without prior registration in an effort to boost the country's vaccination drive, in Cairo, Egypt, September 27, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

The Egyptian Health Ministry on Thursday appealed to all university students to register on the official vaccination website or visit the nearest youth vaccination centers to receive their jab against the coronavirus.

Health Minister Hala Zayed announced that 82,000 university students were vaccinated Wednesday alone, out of a total of 120,000 students who registered on the website.

She said the ministry set up 1,100 vaccination centers nationwide, including 270 centers equipped to welcome youth.

Egypt continued to register an increase in the number of daily coronavirus infections with 738 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours, raising the total number of confirmed infections in the country to 303,783.

Health Ministry Spokesman Khaled Megahed said 31 coronavirus-linked deaths were recorded, taking the nationwide death toll to 17,294 since the start of the pandemic.

As many as 809 cases were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving the necessary medical care, pushing the total number of recovered cases in the country to 256,467, the spokesman added.

Megahed also confirmed that all university students can visit the nearest center among the 270 youth centers that have been equipped to vaccinate university students, without pre-registering on the website or waiting for the text message to specify the date of receiving the vaccine.

He said registration and vaccination are done immediately in those centers.

Meanwhile, Higher Education Ministry Spokesperson Adel Abdel-Ghafar said there is an urgency to speed up the vaccination of university students.

“There are more than 300 vaccination points designated to inoculate students at all Egyptian universities,” he said, adding that receiving the vaccine is not optional.

In the past two days, Egypt received doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine and is expected to welcome a new batch of the vaccine next Monday.



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."