Egypt received new doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine as the country registered an increase in the number of daily COVID-19 infections.
The Health Ministry said 97 new cases were registered over the past 24 hours, upping the total since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country to 285,158.
Five patients have died from the virus, raising the death toll to 16,609, while 43 were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care.
Meanwhile, Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed said that the country received on Friday an additional 1,766,400 COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine doses.
The shipment was delivered via the COVAX initiative, in cooperation with the Vaccines Alliance (GAVI), the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF.
Health Ministry Spokesman Khaled Megahed said this shipment is the third from the COVAX initiative, and part of a total of 40 million doses to be received successively during the coming period.
The Ministry also confirmed the availability of the AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sinovac, Sinopharm, and Sputnik V vaccines at 539 vaccination centers across the nation.
Megahed noted that 126 centers were designated for inoculating travelers against coronavirus and issuing documented certificates for those who have received the jab.
Meanwhile, Al Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed el Tayyeb called on companies manufacturing the vaccines to review their pricing policies and distribution plans.
He also urged rich countries to address the severe disparity in the distribution of vaccines to ensure that they reaches areas most in need.
