Egypt becomes first African country to approve covid vaccine for usage
London, Dec. 29, 2020 (AltAfrica)-Egypt will become the first African country to approve covid-19 vaccine for usage in the continent after country’s Health Minister, Hala Zayed said approval for the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine was within hours
The cheering announcement was made during a phone interview with the Saudi satellite TV channel Al-Arabiya on Monday. An experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm has 86% efficacy
Egypt has conducted tests for the vaccine developed by Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm through the National Authority for Drug Control and Research (NODCAR).
READ ALSO: THE LESS YOU SHOWER, THE BETTER FOR YOUR SKIN-HEALTH EXPERTS
Egypt received a 50,000-dose batch of the vaccine in mid-December and is set to receive other batches for mass vaccination .
The announcement comes as the country is currently witnessing a second wave of the coronavirus with rising daily infections and deaths.
Responding to a question about the actual numbers of coronavirus infections in Egypt, Minister Zayed said “all figures recorded worldwide do not represent 100 percent of the situation on the ground.”
“The recorded cases are [only] the infections diagnosed by the health systems,” the minister stressed.
Many people do not know that they are infected, while others display mild symptoms and take home-medications without being registered at the health ministry’s laboratories, which are responsible for recording infections, she explained.
“This happens in all countries, not only Egypt,” Zayed added.
Zayed added that “the pandemic reveals itself, and no country can conceal the numbers of infections or deaths.”
“All recorded infections and deaths in Egypt are 100 percent of the cases that headed to the health ministry for diagnosis and treatment,” she pointed out.
Despite reporting low rates over the past five months, more than 1,000 people have been infected every day since last Thursday, with daily deaths rates hovering between 40-50.
Zayed said that Egypt had expected the increase in infections since the prevalence of respiratory diseases usually increases in December and January each year worldwide.
“The rise was expected and it is being contained,” Zayed noted.
Since the outbreak began domestically in February, the virus has so far infected 132,541 and killed 7,405.
Three more doctors in different governorates succumbed to the deadly virus on Monday, the Egyptian Medical Syndicate announced, which brings the total tally of deaths among doctors to 256.
