Under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Long Live Egypt Fund has launchedan initiative to provide Coronavirus (COIVID-19) vaccine to poor families, children and senior citizens, at a cost of approximately LE 2 billion, said Fund spokesperson Mohamed Mukhtar.
In media remarks to “On My Responsibility” talk show on Sada al-Balad T.V., Mukhtar added that the vaccine jab is not compulsory and those who would register and submit requests will take it.
The fund is cooperating with a number of NGOs to register the number of the villages and families who deserve the vaccine, he continued.
The fund provided food and humanitarian assistance to 660,000 families in the first wave of the Coronavirus, besides providing ventilators and quantities of sterilization and disinfection tools, Mukhtar said.
Egypt recorded Wednesday 1,007 new coronavirus cases, upping the total number of confirmed cases to 145,590.
In a statement, Spokesman for the Health Ministry Khaled Megahed said 57 patients have died from the virus over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 7,975.
As many as 561 patients were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care, taking the number of recovered cases to 115,975 so far, the spokesman said.
In December, Health Minister officially announced that Egypt is facing the second wave of coronavirus.
The Cabinet, in response, announced further measures to curb the spread of the novel virus, including imposing an immediate fine on people not wearing face masks in closed places and public transportation. The decision comes into effect on Sunday January 3.
Cabinet spokesman Nader Saad, in remarks to media in December, said the ventilator use rose to 42 percent and that Egypt has prepared 363 hospitals for quarantine, the same number of hospitals for quarantine as that it prepared during the peak of the first wave.
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s initiative to follow up self-isolation cases of coronavirus kicked off on Wednesday under the “100 million health” campaign.
In a press conference on Monday to review the electronic system to follow up the supplies and consumption of oxygen in all hospitals nationwide, the Health Minister Hala Zaid detailed that the initiative is part of the ministry’s keenness to save the lives of all Covid-19 cases.
The initiative also aims to provide health services for patients, including the measurement of oxygen saturation and body temperature with the follow-up of patients’ health developments through 5,400 health units and medical centers.
The conference was held after anger on social media mounted when all coronavirus patients died in intensive care units (ICUs) due to a shortage of oxygen at the Husseiniya Central Hospital in Sharqia governorate on Sunday.