This brings the total number of infections since the outbreak of the pandemic in February 2020 up to 439,651, according to the Ministry of Health and Population’s daily update.

The ministry also reported 59 new deaths in the past 24 hours nationwide, bringing the total fatalities nationwide to 22,936.

As many as 3,321 patients have been discharged from isolation hospital, the statement noted, adding that the total number of recoveries reached 372,332.

Egypt is battling a serious spike in COVID-19 infections and deaths due to the outbreak of the Omicron variant.

On 28 January, Egypt surpassed 2,000 new cases per day for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, with the daily infection tally hitting record-highs for eight consecutive days.

However, Egypt is expected to witness a decline in infections in two to three weeks, according to Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar, the health ministry spokesman. 

The recent spike in infections comes as Egypt continues to push ahead with efforts to expand its vaccination campaign.

Egypt has administered a total of 38 million first vaccine doses and 27 million second doses since the start of the mass vaccination campaign in January of 2021, according to the health ministry’s daily statistics.

As many as 647,271 booster shots have been administered in recent weeks as well, bringing the total number of doses administered since the start of the campaign to 66 million.