The ministry added in its daily update that 16 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 21,768.

The statement added that 569 patients have been discharged after recovering from the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to 321,132.

Egypt has received around 121 million vaccine doses, Egypt's Presidential Adviser for Health Affairs Mohamed Awad Tag El-Din told media on Saturday.

On 29 December, Egypt announced that it has administered more than 21 million second coronavirus vaccine shots since the country started its vaccination campaign early this year.

This means that Egypt has fully vaccinated slightly over 20 percent of its 102.8 million population over the past year, falling short of the World Health Organisation’s global target for countries to fully vaccinate 40 percent of their populations by the end of 2021.