The Egyptian government announced Thursday an increasing demand for COVID-19 vaccines as the country aims to inoculate 40% of its population against the coronavirus by the end of 2021.
The Health Ministry said 765 new cases were recorded in the country, upping the total number of infections since the outbreak began in Egypt to 270,292.
In a statement, spokesman Khaled Megahed said 34 patients have died from the virus over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 15,471.
He added that 800 patients were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care, taking the number of recovered cases to 198,632.
According to a study carried out by the Egyptian Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC), the number of people registered last month to be vaccinated has increased by 10 percent.
Egypt had announced earlier this year the start of online registration for eligible citizens to obtain the vaccine, starting first with people having health conditions.
On Thursday, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health and Population for Preventive Medicine Mohamed Abdel Fattah said that vaccinations for different groups, such as airport workers, will be expanded.
“We aim to vaccinate at least 70 percent of citizens,” he said, adding that a total of 7 million citizens have registered on the online website for vaccination, and up to 3 million citizens have been vaccinated so far.
Vaccinations are free for Egyptians and foreigners.
