Egypt has received four million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine from the United Kingdom, as part of the global COVAX agreement, Egypt's Health Ministry revealed.
The vaccines were sent to Cairo International Airport in three batches on Thursday and Friday.
Acting Health Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar thanked the UK for supporting Egypt in its fight against the pandemic.
COVAX was established by the Geneva-based GAVI vaccine alliance and the World Health Organization (WHO) for the equitable distribution of vaccines.
Egypt recorded 2,007 new cases over the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections in the country to 419,460, including 353,409 recoveries.
Twenty-six patients have died from the virus, raising death toll to 22,522.
Health Ministry Spokesperson Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said the AstraZeneca vaccine has received approval for emergency use from WHO and the Egyptian Drug Authority.
He said the shipment will be tested in the authority’s labs before distributing it to the inoculation centers across the country.
