Egypt's Health Minister Hala Zayed said on Tuesday the pandemic's third wave has begun receding and the occupancy rates at isolation hospitals nationwide are on the downward curve. "The rising wave of [coronavirus] infections has started to recede, and the occupancy rates in isolation hospitals have declined," Zayed told President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in a meeting earlier today. Over the past week, fewer than 1,000 people have been infected with coronavirus every day. This comes after the country's single-day toll of COVID-19 infections kept hovering above the 1000-mark for over a month starting 27 April. Zayed Also briefed El-Sisi on the pandemic situation across the country and reviewed the country's efforts to provide the vaccines shots. Egypt has so far lodged a total of 224,517 coronavirus infections, including 13,168 deaths and 168,665 recoveries. Over the past six months, Cairo received a total of 3 million Chinese Sinopharm jabs, along with over 3 million doses of the British-Swedish AstraZeneca vaccine and 500,000 doses of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine. Further shots of the three vaccines, alongside others, are due to be delivered to the country shortly. With the shots set to be ready for public use within the following six weeks, Egypt also is due by 15 June to manufacture 2 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine via the production lines of the country's state-owned drugmaker VACSERA. In May, a shipment of 1,400 litres of Sinovac raw materials touched down in Cairo international Airport to secure the production of next week's target, which is part of a broader deal to produce a total of 40 million doses. An additional shipment of 3,000 litres of Sinovac raw materials is set to be delivered as well later this month to produce 4.2 million doses. Egypt seeks to fulfill the country's vaccination needs and to export doses to Africa. El-Sisi, during Tuesday's meeting, ordered setting a "comprehensive" plan to upgrade VACSERA to be on par with other international firms and companies. The president also demanded an increase of the number of vaccination centres countrywide, with established mega centres at each governorate. The Egyptian government targets to vaccinate 40 percent of the eligible population towards the end of the current year. At least two million have been vaccinated against the deadly virus in Egypt, according to the latest statistics of the Ministry of Health. On the other side, president El-Sisi urged expansion in kidney transplantation surgeries as being the best treatment for patients with renal failure, the statement added. Today's meeting was also attended by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait, among others.
