Daily coronavirus infections in Egypt continued to rise over 700 for the eighth day in a row, with 794 new cases reported on Friday, up from 789 a day prior, according to a statement by the Egyptian Ministry of Health. The ministry added that the total infection tally since the pandemic started to hit the country last year reached 208,867. The total covid-19-linked death toll hit 12,362 after 39 patients succumbed to the disease over the past 24 hours. The statement added that 565 patients have been discharged from hospitals after recovering from the virus, bringing total recoveries to 158,454. As of 2 April, more than 700 people have been infected every day, with warnings of a possible rise in infections during the holy month of Ramadan, which begins next week. The health ministry warned citizens against family gatherings and other popular rituals during the month to stem the spread of infections. The country witnessed a spike in coronavirus cases during the holy month last year. The rise is expected to wane in May by the end of the holy month. Egypt, at the other end, is looking to double its supply of coronavirus vaccines, which stands at around 1.5 million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm and the British-Swedish Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, to vaccinate as many citizens as possible. Millions of AstraZeneca doses are expected to arrive soon as part of the global COVAX initiative, which has provided Egypt with over 850,000 jabs. A million shipment of Sinopharm vaccines is also expected within days. More than 2250,000 citizens have been vaccinated so far, almost a month after Egypt started its vaccination campaign, Alaa Eid, the Head of the health ministry's Preventive Medicine Department, said in a TV comment on Friday. The country began vaccinating priority groups in March, allowing medical teams, the elderly and people with chronic disease to register online via a designated website to be inoculated. Health Minister Hala Zayed said on Thursday that around 1.1 million citizens from all categories have registered online to receive the vaccine. Tourism, banking, industrial sectors' workers are the next target of the campaign as the country to keep the economic sector running as part of its plan to balance out the production wheel and the anti-covid-19 safety measures.
