More than 28 million Egyptians have been screened for hepatitis C and a number of chronic diseases as part of the state’s '100 Million Lives' campaign launched in October, the health minister said on Wednesday.

In press statements, Minister of Health Hala Zayed said a total of 15,423,00 citizens have been screened for the virus as of Wednesday as part of the campaign’s second phase, which was launched on 30 November.

The second phase, which was launched on 30 November, covers and the governorates of Cairo, Beni Suef, Sohag, Menoufiya and Kafr El-Sheikh.

The number of those screened during both the first and the second phases totals 28.5 million citizens out of the country's 104 million population, making it the country's largest ever anti-hepatitis C campaign. 

Meanwhile, Health Ministry Spokesman Khaled Megahed said that around 600,045 high school students have been screened in nine governorates as part if the campaign's first stage.

According to Megahed, over 1,900 people have been screened on the grounds of the Cairo International Book Fair at four screening units.

As of 2015, some 22 percent of Egypt's population had hepatitis C.

Over the past three years, Egypt has been using a variety of new medications to combat the virus, with a high success rate.

In 2016, the health ministry announced it had achieved a 96 percent cure rate of the disease nationwide.

The health ministry has vowed to completely eliminate the disease from Egypt by 2022.