Egypt has been placed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) at a lower level of risk of the coronavirus outbreak.
Minister of Health Hala Zayed gave this announcement during Wednesday’s cabinet meeting that was under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli.
WHO has placed Egypt at a lower level of risk of spreading coronavirus, the minister said, citing WHO’s six-level categories of the epidemiological position and the risk of spreading the virus worldwide.
Some 500,000 doses of Sinovak were made available last week and another 1 million doses will be out by the end of next week, the minister added.
The minister went on to say that 250,000 doses of AstraZeneca and 210,000 of Russian Sputnik V are also available with the approval of the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA).
Concerning the local production of coronavirus vaccines, Zayed said that Egypt will receive 2,000 litres of raw materials soon, out of 5,000 litres to be supplied by the end of this month.
The minister said that up to six weeks will be needed for medical checks before they are put to use in vaccination centres.
The country aims to produce 40 million doses this year.
As for the presidential initiative for treating children with muscle atrophy, Zayed said her ministry had allocated 24 clinics for examining such cases offering the free medical treatment.
The clinics are all over Egypt and they will receive children suffering from this disease within a national programme for treatment depending on gene therapies, Zayed added.
Zayed told the cabinet meeting that the treatment is offered at Nasser Institute Hospital, el-Galaa Hospital and Ain Shams University Hospital.
With regard to the presidential initiative for the manufacture and self-sufficiency in plasma derivatives, Zayed said that plasma collection will begin at six collection centres in the governorates of Cairo, Alexandria, Gharbia, and Minya with a collection capacity of 150,000-200,000 litres. Zayed said the plasma will be collected within 4-6 weeks, before being sent abroad so that it can be separated into its derivatives to be returned as a final product.
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