Egypt began its Covid-19 immunisation program Sunday, becoming one of the first countries in Africa to vaccinate its citizens, with a doctor and a nurse receiving the Chinese-made Sinopharm jab. Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country with over 100 million people, received its first batch of the vaccine in December. The inoculation will be available to all health workers for free, Health Minister Hala Zayed said Sunday. Egypt has officially registered over 160,000 novel coronavirus infections, including nearly 9,000 deaths. Zayed said Cairo had inked deals to receive vaccine shipments from British, Chinese and Russian firms, for a total of around 100 million doses.

Source: The North Africa Journal January 24, 2021 16:38 UTC