
File photo: A medical staff member in protective gear checks temperatures at Cairo University during the coronavirus outbreak, Cairo, Egypt. REUTERS
Amid the continual increase in the daily coronavirus infections that has been seen over the past weeks, Egypt has recently implemented new coronavirus-related restrictions at airports, seaports and land crossings to contain the spread of Omicron along with its previously announced plan.
Last week, Presidential Adviser for Health Affairs Mohamed Awad Tag El-Din affirmed that the highly infectious coronavirus variant Omicron is responsible for the vast majority of cases in Egypt. Hence, the health ministry has urged people suffering from common cold symptoms to consider that they may have contracted COVID-19, and should therefore self-isolate and avoid sharing personal tools with family members.
Twenty-eight new deaths have been reported over the past 24 hours as well, bringing the total number of deaths from the virus to 22,396, as per the country's health ministry count for Monday.
As many as 1,803 patients have been discharged after recovering from the virus, raising the total number of recoveries to 345,774.
The Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) issued on Monday an emergency use authorisation for Merck’s COVID-19 drug Molnupiravir and has allowed five national companies to manufacture the oral antiviral as a first stage.
The local companies have manufactured 25,000 Molnupiravir packages that are ready for use, head of the EDA Tamer Essam said in a health ministry statement on the same day, adding that Egypt has enough raw material to manufacture an additional 150,000 packages.
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