CAIRO – 6 May 2021: The Egyptian government recorded on Wednesday 1,102 cases, 876 recoveries, and 64 deaths. The Ministry of Health and Population announced Saturday that 900,000 people have got vaccinated, and that more than 45 percent of hospitals' capacity is ready to receive COVID-19 patients. In another context, the ministry's Spokesperson Khaled Megahed noted that 45 percent of hospitals' beds have been allocated to receive COVID-19 patients. The agreement to produce the world’s first registered vaccine against the novel virus also includes Minapharm’s Berlin-based subsidiary ProBioGen AG. Egypt has a deal with China for the latter to supply 20 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine in addition to others to be acquired through COVAX.

FILE: A member of the medical staff shows a used sample container at a test center for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Berlin, Germany, April 6, 2020. - ReutersCAIRO – 7 May 2021: The Egyptian Health Ministry recorded on Thursday 1,110 new cases, 900 recoveries, and 59 deaths. While the country has started its vaccination campaign in January, the number of cases keeps on rising, especially as Egypt is currently suffering from a third coronavirus wave. This surge is far more than the official numbers, health officials said frequently, urging citizens to stick to the preventive measures against coronavirus in a bid to curb the pandemic spread. Abdel Fattah said the severity of this coronavirus wave will ease during the upcoming days.

Egypt’s Health Ministry on Wednesday confirmed 1,102 new coronavirus cases, up from 953 on Tuesday. The ministry also reported 64 deaths, and 876 recovered cases. The country has now disclosed a total of 232,905 confirmed cases, 174,217 recovered cases, and 13,655 deaths. Cairo, Giza, Fayoum, Minya, and Sohag are the five governorates with the highest infection rates, Health Minister Hala Zayed said last Wednesday. Egypt has banned Tahajjud prayers (night prayers) within mosques, their annexes, and their surroundings, only allowing Tarawih prayers.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shokry in meeting with Malian counterpart Zeini Moulaye in Cairo on May 5, 2021. Press PhotoCAIRO – 6 May 2021: Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shokry received on Wednesday Malian counterpart Zeini Moulaye in Cairo to discuss bolstering bilateral ties in different fields. Minister Shokry highlighted the role of Egypt in combating terrorism and extremism by promoting correct notions of Islam through Al Azhar. He also underlined the unceasing Egyptian eagerness on backing Mali by different means as well as supporting its stability pointing out to Egypt's effective contribution in the UN peacekeeping mission in the country. The meeting tackled voting to each other in international assemblies, and the current outstanding coordination between both countries on that front.

The Egyptian ministers presented the pathway of negotiations over the past decade since Ethiopia began building the dam without consultations with the downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan. The capacity of the dam's reservoir is 74 billion cubic meters, aimed to generate 6,000 megawatts by installing 16 turbines. The first filling was carried out in 2020 with 4.9 billion cubic meters. Currently, Ethiopia intends to do the second filling in July with at least 13 billion cubic meters. It is noted that the water shares of Egypt and Ethiopia are 55.5 billion cubic meters, and 18.5 billion cubic meters, respectively.

China condemned on Thursday a joint statement by G7 foreign ministers that expressed support for Chinese-claimed Taiwan and cast Beijing as a bully, saying it was a gross interference in China’s internal affairs. G7 foreign ministers said in a communique after a London summit that China was guilty of human rights abuses and of using its economic influence to bully others. China regards Taiwan as its own territory and opposes any official Taiwan representation on an international level. The G7 statement was warmly received in Taipei, where the government said this was the first time the foreign ministers had mentioned the island in their joint communique. ___IMAGE: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin attends a news conference in Beijing, China December 14, 2020.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has pumped development funds of $421m into Egypt’s private sector during 2020, according to Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat. The financing has gone towards supporting the efforts undertaken by the private sector in various development projects. During the virtual meeting, the two sides also discussed ongoing partnerships, future projects, and ways to enhance the IFC’s role in supporting Egypt’s private sector. In the same context, Pimenta touched on the importance of the joint coordination cooperation platform launched by the Ministry of International Cooperation. The IFC is a member of the World Bank Group, and is responsible for private sector development.

The negotiations were praised internationally, and an initial agreement, which Egypt has signed, was announced to be reached then. According to Sharaqi, Ethiopia’s current government is just trying to use the GERD project to win the elections. In March 2021, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi stated, “No one can take a drop of water from Egypt... This is not a threat.”Sudan, as well has warned more than once of filling the GERD before reaching a legal binding agreement. In 2015, the three countries signed the Declaration of Principles, per which the downstream countries [Egypt and Sudan] should not be negatively affected by the construction of the dam.

JERUSALEM (AP) — A 16-year-old Palestinian youth was killed Wednesday by Israeli gunfire in a clash in the northern West Bank, Palestinian health officials said, while Israel announced the death of a 19-year-old man who was wounded in a drive-by shooting earlier this week. Several Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah have been embroiled in a long-running legal battle with Israeli settler groups trying to acquire property in the neighborhood. Late Wednesday, the Palestinian Red Crescent medical service said several people were injured in clashes in Sheikh Jarrah, including three people shot by rubber bullets. Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza, territories the Palestinians want for their future state, in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally and views the entire city as its capital.

Large gatherings and concerts will be banned over the same period and beaches and parks will be shut between May 12-16, Mostafa Madbouly said in a televised address. The number of new coronavirus cases has been steadily rising in Egypt in recent weeks and officials have warned of infections spreading further as families meet during Ramadan, which ends next week, with Eid festivities to follow. The government has been rolling out a nationwide vaccination programme since January, and Madbouly said approximately 1 million people had been vaccinated so far. The health ministry reported 1,090 new cases and 60 more deaths as of Tuesday. Experts say official numbers likely only reflect a small fraction of COVID-19 cases in the country due to relatively limited testing and the non-inclusion of private test results.

CAIRO – 5 May 2021: Egypt and Turkey started on Wednesday two-day political talks held in Cairo after years of a strained relationship between the two countries. The talks are led by Egypt's Deputy Foreign Minister Hamdi Loza and Turkey's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sedat Önal. The political consultations between the two countries already started in the headquarters of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the ministry spokesman, Ahmed Hafez. In March, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry affirmed the government keenness to maintain close relationship between the two people of Egypt and Turkey regardless the ‘negative political stances’ of Ankara against Cairo. He added during the meeting of the Foreign Relations Committee in the House of Representatives, that no relations or communications between the two countries ‘outside the normal diplomatic channels.

Cairo International Airport received, on Tuesday evening, the first direct flight coming from the Russian city of Saint Petersburg, in the first operation of this line since Moscow resumed its direct flights to Cairo in 2018. Sources at the airport confirmed that direct flights are indeed operating regularly between Saint Petersburg and Cairo, Youm7 reported. Fight number 4399 N, which was run by the Russian Nordwind Airlines, touched down in Terminal 2 Tuesday evening, carrying about 75 passengers. The number of weekly flights has not yet been determined for Nordwind, as the number will be adjusted according to demand and travel restrictions. The sources added that since late April and early May, Russian-operated flights between Cairo and Russia have increased significantly.

CAIRO – 5 May 2021: Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said he thinks President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi was keen to express the seriousness of the Ethiopian dam issue to the world, commenting on Sisi’s earlier remarks that “all options are open” regarding the dam. Sisi urged Ethiopia in April to cooperate with Egypt on the water file, as collapse of rounds of negotiations to reach a legally-binding agreement on Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has been blamed on Ethiopia’s intransigence. This comes amid Ethiopia’s insistence to complete the dam filling in July despite objections by Egypt and Sudan about filling the dam before an agreement on the filling and operation of the dam is reached. “The dam brings a lot of benefits to the three countries … But for these benefits to materialize, we have to reach a binding agreement,” Hamdok said. This is why we are asking for a binding agreement within the international law.”

Egypt’s Minister of Health and Population Hala Zayed on Wednesday announced, during a cabinet meeting, that the ministry will soon employ mobile coronavirus vaccination sites near post offices. Zayed referred also to ministry health awareness campaigns that were presented to more than a million citizens in ten governorates during the past two weeks. Egypt’s Health Ministry on Thursday confirmed 953 new coronavirus cases, down from 1,078 on Monday. The ministry also reported 60 deaths, and 567 recovered cases. The country has now disclosed a total of 231,803 confirmed cases, 173,341 recovered cases, and 13,591deaths.

CAIRO – 5 May 2021: Egypt will receive a total of 4.9 million coronavirus vaccine doses this month, Health Minister Hala Zayed said on Wednesday, amid Egypt’s suffering from a surge in coronavirus cases. Zayed said 1.7 million coronavirus doses will arrive in Egypt in the coming week and 1.7 million doses will arrive by the end of May through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX). Also, one million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine are set to arrive this month in addition to 500,000 doses of the Chinese Sinovac through this week. As Egypt is preparing to locally produce the Sinovac vaccine, Zayed said Egypt will soon receive 1,400 liters of the raw material needed to manufacture 2 million vaccine doses. The first agreement is related to the transfer of technology required to manufacture the vaccine doses, a Cabinet statement read.