This brings the total number of cases since the outbreak began in February 2020 to 486,381, it added.

The ministry also recorded 22 coronavirus-related fatalities, bringing the total tally of deaths to 24,132.

The daily report added that the total number of recoveries increased to 416,471 after 981 patients were discharged from hospitals nationwide in the past 24 hours.

The country witnessed a spike in reported cases over the past two months, recording the highest single day rise on 5 February at 2,298 cases.  However, the past several days witnessed a remarkable drop in cases, which fell below the 2,000 mark on 22 February, when 1,989 cases were reported on Tuesday.

The rate of COVID-related hospital admissions across Egypt has declined by 40.4 percent between 11 and 25 February compared to the previous two weeks, Acting Health Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar revealed on Tuesday.

Egypt plans to vaccinate 70 percent of its eligible population — 12-year-olds and above — by the second half of 2022.

New vaccination measures

Egypt’s health ministry has decided to shorten the interval for the booster dose of coronavirus vaccine for people above 65 years of age to at least three instead of six months, according to local reports on Wednesday.

Pregnant and lactating women and women who plan to marry or get pregnant will get the Pfizer vaccine if they request to be vaccinated, the ministry said.

The ministry will also extend the time period through which people can get the vaccine after receiving a text message of their vaccination date to one week for the first shot, a month and a half for the second shot, and two months for the booster shot.

More than 30 million citizens have been fully vaccinated to date, and almost 40 million citizens have received their first dose, according to the ministry figures. Moreover, over a million citizens have also received their booster shot.