Egypt's Minister of Health and Population, Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, presented a report on the epidemiological situation in Egypt during a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Dr. Moustafa Madbouly on Wednesday, according to a statement published on the official Facebook page of the Egyptian Cabinet.
The health minister opened his presentation by stressing that citizens must continue to follow precautionary measures because "since mid-January, we have been seeing a slight, gradual increase in coronavirus infections locally, due to a number of factors."
The minister said: "According to our monitoring, these infections do not require hospital admission, but it is necessary to follow preventive measures against the virus, most importantly wearing a mask in crowded and enclosed places." He noted that the number of deaths fell during the seventh week of 2023 compared with the sixth week of the year.
The minister also addressed overall bed occupancy rates in Ministry of Health and Population hospitals, noting that 60% of inpatient beds and more than 35% of intensive care beds are vacant, while 71% of ventilators are available.
On vaccinations, he said the total number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 has reached 40,865,508, including those who received the first dose as well as booster doses, adding that 56,020,042 doses are available.
He noted that, according to the World Health Organization, global COVID-19 cases fell by 12% in the week from 6 to 12 February 2023 compared with the previous week, while deaths fell by 30% over the same period compared with the week before.
