About 5.9 million adults in New York City have gotten at least a first dose, out of 7 million people age 18 and up. New York City is averaging just under 2,000 new cases of COVID-19 per day, up from about 820 a day at the start of November. “Well, we’re going to do it.”Vaccinations are already required in New York City for hospital and nursing home workers and for city employees, including teachers, police officers and firefighters. A vaccination mandate for employees of private and religious schools was announced last week. Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, a leading business group, said it is unclear who will enforce the mandate and whether it is even legal.

How can I protect myself from the new omicron variant? For all the attention omicron is getting, the overwhelming cause of infections and deaths in many places remains the extra-contagious delta variant. Omicron is an uncertain threat,” Dr. Francis Collins, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, told The Associated Press. In the meantime, “what we need to do is add more layers of protection,” says Dr. Julie Vaishampayan of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. But it also could help ensure safety before holiday gatherings, even if everyone attending has been vaccinated, Vaishampayan says.

Switzerland announced it will begin lifting quarantine restrictions on travelers from Egypt, the UK, Malawi and the Netherlands on Saturday. The British newspaper “The Independent” reported that Switzerland has exempted travelers coming from Egypt from quarantine for a period of ten days, after it imposed restrictions on November 27 due to fears of an outbreak of the omicron coronavirus strain. The newspaper quoted officials as saying that the decision will be implemented as of Saturday. According to the newspaper, Switzerland is no longer obligating travelers from abroad to undergo mandatory quarantine. The Swiss Federal Council said in a statement that all those coming to Switzerland must undergo a coronavirus examination and bear its cost.

Expanding the fields of teacher training and rehabilitation with mechanisms, skills and foundations of modern methods of dealing and communicating with people with special needs in order to enable them to learn and excel in various academic and practical fields. The artistic and cultural production sectors will produce more work aimed at highlighting the capabilities and creativity of citizens with special needs and their contributions to Egypt. All youth and sports organizations provide programs and activities for people of determination aimed at raising their physical fitness and improve their sports skills. Sisi’s remarks came during “Differently-Abled” celebration dedicated to children with special needs at the Al Manara International Conference Center in New Cairo. Sisi stressed that the positive support of the Egyptians for people with special needs will never stop and will only increase further.

The Egyptian Minister of the Public Business Sector, Hisham Tawfek, discussed with a delegation from the Belarusian MAZ company a cooperation in the manufacturing of 12-meter-long mass transit buses powered by natural gas. Tawfek discussed with the Belarusian delegation the signing of a contract for the supply of production requirements for the Engineering Automotive Manufacturing Company (EAMCO). This came during Tawfek’s visit to EAMCO: the Holding Company for Metallurgical Industries. It is targeted to start production in mid-2022 with an annual capacity of 250 buses, with a local component of more than 60 percent, in line with the state’s plan to deepen and localize the natural gas buses industry to the Egyptian market. He also inspected the production units in EAMCO, and directed to raise the efficiency of equipment, while providing full support for the advancement of the company.

He added that this situation requires necessary policies and measures, besides implementing many major projects to achieve the integrated and optimal management of water resources. Egypt gets 97% of its water from the Nile River and its annual need of water is about 114 billion cubic meters, said the Minister, adding that water resources do not exceed 60 billion cubic meters annually, with a gap between the resources and the consumption is of up to 54 billion cubic meters annually. “This gap is filled throughout reusing water, and importing agricultural crops [that could consume] about 34 billion cubic meters annually. “Ethiopian side deliberately issued false statements and managed the dam unilaterally, which caused great damage to the two downstream countries [Egypt and Sudan],” he added. “Water scarcity and climatic changes worsened the situation in water management in Egypt and made it very sensitive towards any unilateral projects implemented in the Nile Basin countries, without just and binding legal agreements to regulate these projects and limit their negative impacts on water in Egypt,” he said.

CAIRO-3 December 2021: Carlos Queiroz, Egypt national team head coach, stated that Egypt’s match against Sudan on Saturday will not be an easy fixture for the Pharaohs. “Sudan will be a difficult opponent. We have a good chance to play beautiful game and achieve the three points.” Queiroz said. The Portuguese head coach added “We created many chances against Lebanon and we could have scored more goals. Qatar hosts FIFA Arab Cup between 30 November and 17 December, with the participation of 16 Arab nations.

- ReutersCAIRO – 3 December 2021: Egypt's Health Ministry said 919 new coronavirus cases were detected on Thursday, upping the total number of infections since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country to 360,435. In a statement, the ministry said 57 patients have died from the virus over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 20,594. Egypt is also carrying out studies on the emergence of the new coronavirus variant known as Omicron to study its effect on vaccine efficacy. Earlier, Canada suspended flights to Egypt along with nine African countries over fears related to the emergence of Omicron. On Tuesday, Egypt affirmed it has not detected any Omicron case so far.

This came during inking a memorandum of understanding between the AOI and the Chinese NORINCO company as part of the 4th day activities of Egypt Defense Exhibition (EDEX) 2021. Terras said the memo aims at transferring and localizing technology as well as boosting joint manufacturing in the defense industries and training human cadres. He said the memo follows the latest standards of the 4th generation industrial revolution. Cooperation fields boost opportunities of investment and trade exchange between Egypt and China, he said, asserting that the factors of developing cooperation fields between both countries are available in light of strong ties between them. Meanwhile, major officials at NORINCO lauded the expertise of the AOI and their ability to develop technology to achieve the highest rates of local manufacturing, saying the Egyptian market is big and promising.

Egypt’s exports to Spain increased by 80 percent during the last nine months despite the coronavirus crisis, Mohamed al-Masry, Vice President of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, said. Egypt has been one of the few countries around the world that has achieved a positive growth rate during the coronavirus crisis. The renewal of the financial cooperation protocol between Egypt and Spain reflects the depth of relations between the two countries. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Wednesday that he briefed Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Egypt’s firm position on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam crisis. Earlier, Sisi stressed the importance of water for Egypt, describing it as a matter of “life or death”.

CAIRO – 2 December 2021: Cairo Governor Khaled Abdel-Aal announced that 12 public parks will allow free entry for disabled people on Friday. This coincides with the International Day of Disabled Persons celebrated internationally on the 3rd of December. Parks that will allow free entry for disabled people tomorrow includes the Japanese Gardens, the International Park, the Azbakia Garden, the Child Park, Rod Al-Farag Park, Arts Park in Al-Manial, Om Kalthoum Garden, 6th of October Garden, and Al-Manial Garden. (11) of 2019 forming the National Council for Persons with Disabilities. 10 for 2018 on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on February 20, after being approved by the Parliament.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said Wednesday they detected their first cases of the new coronavirus variant, recording the first known instances of omicron infections in the Persian Gulf region. Saudi Arabia’s state-run Saudi Press Agency said its case was a citizen coming from what it described as a “North African country.” The report said the infected individual and his close contacts had been quarantined. The UAE also reported its first case of infection with the omicron variant late Wednesday. State-run WAM news agency described the patient as an African woman who traveled from an African country through an Arab country, without specifying which nations. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said more would be known about the omicron strain in two to four weeks as scientists grow and test lab samples of the virus.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi at personal interviews with applicants who wish to study at the Military Academy on December 2, 2021. Press PhotoCAIRO – 2 December 2021: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi attended Thursday personal interviews with applicants who wish to study at the Military Academy as those are part of the admission tests. The president was also joined by Minister of Defense and Military Production Mohamed Zaki, and Chief of Staff Osama Askar. The latest event attended by President Sisi at the Military Academy was the commencement of Class 2021 of military schools.

Deputy Minister of Tourism and Antiquities for Tourism Affairs, Ghada Shalaby, stressed the importance of the Cabinet’s approval of a decision issued by the Ministerial Committee for Tourism and Antiquities on November 16, 2021, raising the minimum price for accommodation in five-star hotel establishments. The new decision enhances the value of Egyptian destinations and represents the second move toward the re-governance of the mechanisms of selling of the Egyptian market products in different countries, she said. The first raise for minimum accommodation was applied on November 1, at five-star and four-star hotels. She added, in a telephone interview during the “A Final Word” program presented by Lamis al-Hadidy on ON satellite channel, that some hotels were offering prices that might affect the quality of the services provided, explaining that some hotels were offering the 5-star room for US$25 per night. Shalaby said the decision to raise minimum hotel accommodation prices to $50 per night for Egyptians and foreigners will be implemented starting May 1, 2022, except for some governorates, which will postpone the decision until November 2022She pointed out that some hotels were allowed to operate in full capacity, not just 70 percent.

The General Directorate of Passports in Saudi Arabia announced the countries covered by the decision to extend the validity of residency and exit, return and visit visas without fees, in implementation of the directives of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz. The Saudi newspaper Okaz reported that the decision includes the following countries from which entry has been suspended: Brazil, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, India, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini. On Sunday, the Directorate announced the start of extending the validity of residency and exit, return and visit visas without fees until January 31, with the exception of those who completed receiving two doses of COVID-19 vaccine inside Saudi Arabia before leaving it. It explained that the extension will be done automatically in cooperation with the National Information Center without the need to visit the headquarters of passport departments or Saudi missions abroad, as well as extending the validity of visitor visas by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for visitors who are outside Saudi Arabia.