Egypt detected 581 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing its total infections tally nationwide to 183,591 since the outbreak last year, a statement by the health ministry said. The health ministry reported 42 new deaths, bringing overall fatalities from the virus nationwide to 10,778. The statement added that 308 patients have been discharged from hospitals over the past 24 hours to mark total recoveries at 141,655. Despite Egypt entering the second wave of the pandemic in early December, the country witnessed a decline in the daily infection rate in January before fluctuating up and down since last week. Last week, Health Affairs Presidential Advisor Mohamed Awad Tag El-Din said Egypt has passed the peak of the second wave of coronavirus. The country has started its coronavirus vaccination campaign in January, inoculating thousands of health workers nationwide with the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine. Egypt received its first batch of the Chinese vaccine in December, consisting of 50,000 doses. Last week, China gifted 300,000 Sinopharm vaccine doses to Egypt. Health Minister Hala Zayed said on Tuesday that Egypt awaits another 300,000 Sinopharm doses to be sent by China also as a gift. The country also imported 50,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in India late in January and is set to receive 8.6 million doses of this vaccine soon. The state is preparing to start vaccinating the elderly and people suffering from chronic diseases, who are willing to receive the vaccine, in the next few days.
