During the cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Acting Health Minister Abdel-Ghaffar added that 672.3 thousand booster shots have also been administered.

Registration on the official coronavirus vaccination website in Egypt has been open starting 1 December for those between 12 and 15 years old, shortly following the decision earlier in November to approve vaccination for teens aged 15 to 18.

Egypt has now fully vaccinated 28.7 million people since the start of the mass vaccination campaign in January 2021, the acting health minister noted.

Abdel-Ghaffar stated that Egypt has obtained a total of 140.5 million vaccine doses, from which 66.6 million have been consumed so far.

This comes as part of Egypt’s plans to vaccinate 70 percent of its 102 million population by the second half of 2022.

Egypt is currently battling a spike in COVID-19 infections and deaths, due to the omicron variant.

On Tuesday, it recorded its highest single-day death toll in two months with 60 fatalities, while recording above 2,000 cases daily since late January.

Egypt is expected to witness a decline in infection in two or three weeks due to the expanded vaccination campaign, according to the officials.