The ministry added in its daily update that 20 new deaths related to COVID-19 complications were recorded in the past 24 hours nationwide, bringing the total number of deaths from the virus to 21,817.

The statement said that 612 patients have been discharged after recovering from the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to 322,180.

On Monday , Health Ministry's spokesperson Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar announced that Egypt is expected to receive its first shipments of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca coronavirus drugs in January.

By the end of this month, Egypt will receive Pfizer’s Paxlovid pills required for the treatment of 20,000 coronavirus patients, as well as AstraZeneca’s Evusheld coronavirus antibody required to treat 50,000 patients, Abdel-Ghaffar told the media.