Makram explained that applying insurance on Egyptian expatriates came from their requests, especially those working in the Gulf countries, who represent the largest segment of Egyptian expatriates. The step came thanks to coordination between the Ministry of Interior, the Financial Supervisory Authority, the Insurance Federation of Egypt and the Egyptian Association for Travel Insurance Abroad which includes companies scheduled to implement insurance on Egyptian expatriates, she added. Makram added during the press conference that expatriates will register through an e- platform dedicated for this purpose on the Egyptian Association for Travel Insurance Abroad’s website. The annual insurance premium is set at only LE100, as the ministry aims to extend the insurance umbrella to include all Egyptian citizens around the world. This insurance is the first of its kind and serves as reassurance to Egyptian expatriates, she said, noting that other insurance products will be made available to meet their needs.

CAIRO – 27 December 2021: More than two million newborns have been examined as part of the Presidential initiative to detect and treat hearing impairment since it was launched in 2019, according to the initiative director, Ahmed Mustafa. He added in televised statements that nearly 4,200 non-Egyptian newborns residing in Egypt have been examined as well. In 2019, the government announced launching the presidential initiative to detect and treat hearing loss among newborns. The Ministry of Interior has set as a requirement to issue birth certificates subjecting newborns to the hearing test. Check-ups take place after providing a written consent of a parent or guardian, and the student’s birth certificate.

CAIRO – 27 December 2021: Up to 500 Egyption citizen have received messages to get their third [booster] dose of against COVID-19 according to spokesperson of the Health Ministry Hossam Abdel Ghaffar. Egypt received a total of more than 2.3 million doses of the Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines, the Ministry of Health said on Sunday. The shipment, delivered at Cairo International Airport, included 1,501,110 Pfizer doses, 462,000 Moderna doses, and 352,800 AstraZeneca doses. The vaccines were delivered through COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) in cooperation with the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), said the ministry. The doses will be distributed to vaccination centers nationwide after undergoing examinations at the labs of the Egyptian Drug Authority, the ministry added.

CAIRO – 26 December 2021: Egypt received a total of more than 2.3 million doses of the Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines, the Ministry of Health said on Sunday. The shipment, delivered at Cairo International Airport, included 1,501,110 Pfizer doses, 462,000 Moderna doses, and 352,800 AstraZeneca doses. The vaccines were delivered through COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) in cooperation with the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), said the ministry. The doses will be distributed to vaccination centers nationwide after undergoing examinations at the labs of the Egyptian Drug Authority, the ministry added. During a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Acting Minister of Health and Population Khaled Abdel Ghaffar stated that there are currently 62 million anti-COVID-19 vaccine doses available for use in Egypt.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered against planting ornamental plants again in favor of using water resources for more crops. While inaugurating several national projects in Toshka on Sunday, the president added: “The land of the delta was low, with a lot of silt that has grown over thousands of years, and therefore has remained suitable for cultivation. Now we are planting in a soil with different nature.”“God willing, there will be no water drop that we can use or a piece of land that we can plant unless we plant it. By the way, this is an order, Doctor Mostafa (Prime Minister), there is no more cultivation of ornamental plants, as long as the water drop we use is valid for fruitful plants, it goes for fruitful plants.”President Sisi said that the agricultural wastewater that is used in cultivating the lands again goes through treatment process according to health standards, and is not mixed with other water. Sisi stressed the need to make use of the largest amount of available water so as not to harm the environment.

GAZA, Dec 26 (Reuters) – The Palestinian health ministry said on Sunday it had identified the first case of the Omicron coronavirus variant in the Gaza Strip. The carrier is a Gaza resident who was infected within the coastal territory, ministry official Majdi Dhair told a news conference. It is expected that the Omicron variant will spread fast,” he told reporters. Gaza, with a population of 2.2 million people, has registered 189,837 COVID-19 infections and 1,691 deaths. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, three cases of Omicron variant had been detected among Palestinians on Dec. 16 and the number had since risen to 23 among the 3.1 million population, Palestinian health authorities said.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Yemeni rebel attack on Saudi Arabia’s southern border town of Jizan killed two people and wounded seven more late Friday, Saudi state-run media reported. Yemen’s Huthi rebels launched a projectile that killed a Saudi citizen and Yemeni resident in the southwestern Saudi province of Jizan, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. Six of the wounded are Saudis and one is a Bangladeshi national, Saudi media said. Saudi-led military coalition airstrikes struck Sanaa earlier on Friday, hitting a military camp near the city center, Saudi media reported. Based on an analysis of thousands of Huthi attacks between 2016 and 2021, it said Huthi attacks on the kingdom averaged 78 a month this year, compared to 38 a month last year.

CAIRO - 26 December 2021: From now on, COVID-19 vaccination became mandatory for those who are aged above 18 years amid imposing harsher restrictions on non-vaccinated people, announced Egypt’s Ministry of Health on Saturday evening in a statement. The compulsory vaccination decision was among a set of rules taken by the supreme committee responsible for managing the coronavirus crisis on Saturday, the statement said. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry said 866 new coronavirus cases were detected on Tuesday in Egypt, upping the total number of infections to 380,520. Health Ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said 25 patients died from the virus over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 21,571. The number of doses was increased yesterday after the Cairo International Airport received Saturday more than 1.9 million Moderna and Pfizer coronavirus vaccine doses.

CAIRO - 26 December 2021: Egypt expressed, on Saturday, its sincere condolences and sympathies to the friendly People's Republic of Bangladesh over the victims of a ferry fire in the south of the country, which resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries. “Egypt also extends its condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a speedy recovery to all the injured. Egypt affirms its solidarity with the government and people of Bangladesh in this painful incident," the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. At least 38 people were killed and dozens of others were injured on Friday after a fire swept through a three-decked ferry that was carrying more than 500 people on board near the town of Jhalakathi, BBC reported on Saturday.

CAIRO - 25 December 2021: The Egyptian Meteorological Authority expected that temperature degrees will continue to drop, so that moderate weather will prevail during the day in Greater Cairo and Lower Egypt, moderate on the northern coasts and northern Upper Egypt, warm on southern Sinai and southern Upper Egypt, and very cold at night across the country. A watery mist will be witnessed in the early morning on some roads leading to and from Greater Cairo, Lower Egypt, the northern coasts, the cities of the Canal, central Sinai and northern Upper Egypt, light rain on areas of the northwestern coasts at intermittent periods, and wind activity in areas of Cairo. As for the temperatures, today, Saturday:Cairo sees highs of 19 degrees and lows of 11 degreesAlexandria sees highs of 19 and lows of 12 degreesMatrouh sees highs of 18 degrees and lows of10 degreesSohag sees highs of 21 degrees and lows of 09 degreesQena sees highs of 22 degrees and lows of 09 degreesAswan sees highs of 23 degrees and lows of 09 degrees.

BETHLEHEM, Dec 25 (Reuters) – The bells of Bethlehem rang out under grey skies on Christmas morning across streets whose closed pastel or green shutters were like an Advent calendar that nobody had turned up to open. But Joseph Giacaman, whose family has sold souvenirs around the square for a century, said business was around 2% of pre-pandemic years. ‘OPEN HEARTS TO HOPE’1/5 Worshipers attend Christmas morning mass at Saint Catherine’s Church, in the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, December 25, 2021. But the market’s opening could not continue its momentum with no foreign coach parties to sell to. “I haven’t even celebrated this year, I didn’t get much work before so now I am taking the chance,” he said.

Egyptian-Russian relationsDuring the phone call, Sisi stressed Egypt’s aspiration to deepen the bilateral cooperation with Russia at all levels. Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry visited in Moscow in October and met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. The Egyptian foreign minister said he hopes trade exchange, that was adversely affected by the outbreak of Covid 19 pandemic, would return to previous levels. The Russian top diplomat said the economic government committee for trade cooperation with Egypt discussed the latest developments in Egyptian-Russian relations. The Russian foreign minister praised the UN diplomatic mission in Libya to achieve settlement to the Libyan crisis.

(Reuters) - Canadian Milos Raonic has pulled out of next month's Australian Open as the former world number three continues his recovery from a heel injury, the organisers said on Saturday. Raonic suffered a thigh injury in March and returned to the tour after a three-month gap. But his 2021 season was cut short due to another heel issue following his first-round loss at the Atlanta Open in July. "Milos Raonic has withdrawn from the #AusOpen as he continues his recovery from an Achilles injury," the organisers of the Grand Slam said on Twitter. The Canadian, who has currently slipped to 70th, is the latest to be ruled out of the Australian Open, with Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Jennifer Brady, Karolina Pliskova, Karolina Muchova, Serena Williams and Bianca Andreescu also ruled out with injuries.

In a video posed on the EU social networking websites, Berger extended thanks to the Egyptian partners for their cooperation with the EU during this difficult year. He added that this year also witnessed the continuation of implementing huge projects in the fields of education, culture, irrigation and water.

CAIRO - 25 December 2021: The Ministry of Health and Population revealed its efforts to implement presidential initiatives in Upper Egypt, stressing that all services are provided to citizens free of charge and in accordance with the international medical standards. et reviews outcomes of presidential initiatives in governorates of Upper Egypt, and its impact on the health system in the country:- Presidential initiative to treat weakness and hearing loss in newborns:The total number of cases examined was 832,599 children, including 4,313 children, who were referred to 17 hospitals. - Presidential initiative to examine and treat chronic diseases and early detection of kidney disease:The total number of cases examined by the Chronic Diseases Initiative is 7,376,821. - Presidential initiative to take care of the health of the mother and fetus:A total of 450,000 women were examined in Upper Egypt, and 1206 positive cases received treatment. - Presidential initiative to eliminate Hepatitis C and detect non-communicable diseasesThe total number of cases examined in the governorates of Upper Egypt is 11,700,000, of whom 380,000 are positive.