Egypt's Minister of Health and Population Hala Zayed received Japanese ambassador to Egypt, Masaki Noke, on Sunday, to discuss boosting cooperation in the health sector, especially regarding the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. During the meeting at the ministry's headquarter on Sunday, the minister witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement with the Japanese side to support Egypt with 12 CT scan devices and 5 electric generators that will be distributed to hospitals as needed, in order to support the state's efforts during the response to the Coronavirus pandemic. The agreement was signed by Wael Al-Saei, Assistant Minister of Health and Population for Financial and Administrative Affairs, and the second secretary of the Japanese embassy in Cairo. This came in the presence of Mohamed Hassani, Assistant Minister of Health and Population for Public Health Initiatives and Karim Raafat, Director of the General Administration of Grants and Loans at the Ministry. Moreover, the meeting dealt with sending experts from Japan to train medical teams in hospitals on CT scan devices and exchanging experiences with the Egyptian side. They also addressed the Egyptian state's plan to produce coronavirus vaccines, in addition to the importance of the multiplicity and diversity of vaccine sources. Ways of Japan's support for Egypt to provide coronavirus vaccines through the "KOVAX" facility were discussed during the meeting. Interestingly, Noke expressed his country's full readiness to support Egypt's health sector, praising the system applied by Egypt to register citizens to receive the Coronavirus vaccine, which allows the registration of non-Egyptian residents to receive the vaccine as well. He affirmed Japan's support to finance the logistics of preserving vaccines in Egypt through UNICEF, noting the continued training of medical teams in hospitals through the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the provision of aid through international organisations.
