Egypt detected 641 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, bringing its total infections toll to 190,280 since the outbreak in February last year. The health ministry reported 42 new fatalities, bringing the death toll from the virus nationwide to 11,256. 369 patients have been discharged from hospitals over the past 24 hours to mark total recoveries at 146,803. Earlier this month, Egypt began vaccinating priority groups under a wider rollout of the vaccination program after it concluded the vaccination of the country's medical staff in the past few weeks. Egypt continues to pushes with efforts to secure vaccines for the overpopulous nation as it continues to expand its immunization program. It currently administers the Chinese Sinopharm and the British-Swedish Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, both of which were granted emergency use authorisation by authorities earlier this year. It is eyeing a near-delivery of 8.6 million doses from 40 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations (GAVI), an international scheme aiming to ensure equal access to new and underused vaccines. It has so far received 350,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine and 50,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine since December. Last month, Egypt authorized the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine for use in the country, yet it has not yet received the vaccine.
