Egypt Prepares to Vaccinate Tourism Sector Workers with Booster Shots

 Egypt's Acting Minister of Health during a meeting to discuss the developments of the pandemic situation. (Egyptian government)
Egypt's Acting Minister of Health during a meeting to discuss the developments of the pandemic situation. (Egyptian government)
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Egypt Prepares to Vaccinate Tourism Sector Workers with Booster Shots

 Egypt's Acting Minister of Health during a meeting to discuss the developments of the pandemic situation. (Egyptian government)
Egypt's Acting Minister of Health during a meeting to discuss the developments of the pandemic situation. (Egyptian government)

The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and the acting Minister of Health and Population, Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar said all tourism sector workers must receive booster doses of the coronavirus vaccine.

This came during the minister’s meeting Saturday with officials and directors of the health directorates in the governorates.

The minister was briefed on the periodic reports on the progress of the vaccination process for targeted citizens of all age groups, as well as follow-up on the rates of visits to vaccination centers distributed throughout the country.

He also followed up on the plan to vaccinate the targeted students after obtaining their parents’ consents and before the beginning of the second school semester.

Abdel-Ghaffar noted that Beheira, Gharbia, and Giza governorates recorded the highest rates of vaccination for children from 12 to 18 years old.

The Health Ministry Egypt recorded 2,018 new cases over the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections in the country to 421,478, including 354,300 recoveries.

Also, 44 patients have died from the virus, raising death toll to 22,566.



Iraq’s FM: Israeli-Russian Hostage Tsurkov is Alive

Israeli-Russian Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov. AFP
Israeli-Russian Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov. AFP
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Iraq’s FM: Israeli-Russian Hostage Tsurkov is Alive

Israeli-Russian Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov. AFP
Israeli-Russian Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov. AFP

Israeli-Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, who is being held hostage by an Iraqi militia, is alive and the Iraqi prime minister is working on her release, Iraqi foreign minister Fouad Hussein told Axios reporter Barak Ravid on Thursday.

Tsurkov, a 38-year-old student at Princeton University, disappeared in Baghdad in March 2023 while doing research for her doctorate. She had entered the country on her Russian passport.

The only sign she was alive has been a video broadcast in November 2023 on an Iraqi television station and circulated on pro-Iranian social media purporting to show her.

No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. But Israel believes she is being held by Kataib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia.