Egypt detects 86 new COVID-19 cases, 6 fatalities Tuesday

CAIRO - 11 August 2020: The Health Ministry said that 86 new coronavirus cases were detected, upping the total number of confirmed cases since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country to 284,875.

In a statement on Tuesday, Spokesman for the Health Ministry Khaled Megahed said six patients have died from the virus over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 16,588.

As many as 107 patients were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care, taking the number of recovered cases to 233,405 so far, the spokesman said.

Egypt will receive 700,000 doses of Johnson and Johnson vaccine in a second batch and will support the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) to receive the Covid-19 vaccines.

Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed said that Egypt supports AVAT in cooperation with the African Export-Import Bank (AEIB) as part of a plan to diversify and expand access to the vaccines.

Zayed met with Chairman of the Unified Procurement Authority Bahaa el-Din Zidan and Chairman of AEIB Benedict Oramah to discuss the supply of Johnson and Johnson vaccine to AVAT.

The minister also said the production capacity of Vacsera, Egypt’s vaccination producer and distributor, is ready to manufacture coronavirus vaccines and distribute them in Africa as means to localize the vaccine industry in the continent.

The first batch of Johnson and Johnson vaccine arrived on Monday with 261,600 doses in cooperation with the African Union. Egypt has already begun locally manufacturing Sinovac vaccine.