Egyptians must adhere to precautionary measures to limit coronavirus’ second wave (photo: Reuters)
Presidential Adviser for Health Affairs Mohamed Awad Tag El-Din said Egypt is seeing a sharp decline in coronavirus infections though there are new cases registered, which he said necessitates the continuity of taking all relevant precautionary measures.
People are required to continue wearing face masks, maintain public hygiene, and avoid gatherings, Tag El-Din told Sky News Arabia channel on Monday.
Those preventive measures will remain in place as long as there are active cases, he added.
Responding to a question about whether people should get vaccinated once in a lifetime or every year, the official said most probably the vaccine will be given more than once since it does not provide permanent immunity.
Tag El-Din noted that no serious side effects have been detected for any type of coronavirus vaccines, pointing out that the vaccine gives immunity and reduces the virus’s intensity at the community level, both locally and globally.
To date, Egypt has reported 187,094 new coronavirus cases and 11,038 related deaths.
The country has started its coronavirus vaccination campaign in January, vaccinating thousands of health workers nationwide.
It also began the vaccination rollout for priority groups on Thursday, which include the elderly and people with chronic diseases who registered via a designated website.
The Health Ministry on Sunday announced launching an English-language version of the website to enable foreigners residing in Egypt to get the vaccine.
Egypt has received 350,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine and 50,000 doses of the British-Swedish Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine since December.
Both vaccines were granted emergency use authorisation by Egyptian authorities earlier this year.
The Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine was also authorised for emergency use in February; yet has not yet been delivered to Egypt.
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