A new delivery of Russian Sputnik V vaccines, earmarked for North African national sports teams, arrived in Egypt, Russian Embassy to Egypt said in a press release on Monday.
"Another supply of highly efficient Russian Sputnik V vaccines arrived in Egypt on July 19. This time, it was a gift from the Russian Ministry of Sport to Egyptian, and other North African, national teams’ members for them to participate in sport competitions despite the ongoing pandemic," the press release stated.
More than half of vaccines will be used by athletes from Egypt, the rest will go to Tunisia and Algeria, the embassy explained.
The Russian assistance to Egypt proves a high level of bilateral relations and comes shortly after the two sides reached a memorandum on cooperation on sports and culture, the press release said.
Egypt received its first Sputnik V delivery on June 24. In April, the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Egyptian company Minapharm agreed to a joint production of over 40 million doses.
The US government will send 3 million coronavirus vaccine doses to Guatemala on Tuesday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said during a pressbriefing.
"We are also pleased to announce 3 million vaccines going to Guatemala tomorrow continuing our prioritization of Latin American countries," Psaki told reporters on Mondaycvd .
Psaki noted that 1 million doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine are currently being sent to Gambia, Senegal, Zambia and Niger.
This is the second batch of coronavirus vaccines that the United States is sending to Guatemala this month. On July 8, one-and-a-half million doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine were delivered to Guatemala City.
Spain will no longer purchase the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, sources in the Spanish Health Ministry told Sputnik on Monday.
The UK-Swedish vaccine is currently being used to "complete the vaccination of residents over 60 years old." Nearly 80% of those aged 60-69 have received both shots, while 95.6% just one.
Initially, it was assumed that Spain would buy 31 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses, but due to its reported side effects it was decided to suspend its use, so only 10,3 million doses were delivered to the country, with 5 million people having received at least one shot.
The remaining doses will be donated to third countries through the vaccine-sharing COVAX mechanism.
Slightly over 23 million of Spain’s 47 million population have been fully vaccinated.
Canada will open its borders to vaccinated US citizens and permanent residents on August 9 and to all vaccinated foreign travelers on September 7, Health Minister Patty Hajdu announced on Monday.
“On September 7, we intend to allow entry for fully vaccinated travelers from any country for non-essential travel,” Hajdu said during a press briefing. “On August 9, a number of important changes at the border will come into effect to allow fully vaccinated United States citizens and permanent residents… to enter Canada for non-essential purposes.”
China and Egypt will together supply Palestinians in the Gaza Strip with half a million COVID-19 vaccine doses, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Monday.
On Sunday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, during his visit to the North African country.
"Egypt agrees with the proposals put forward by China. China and Egypt agreed to work together to offer 500,000 doses of vaccine to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip to address the urgent needs of the local people," Zhao said.
The vaccine to be exported to the Gaza Strip is produced jointly by China and Egypt. The cooperation agreement was signed in December 2020, and so far, a million doses have already been manufactured in Egypt.
The batch is supposed to be sent shortly after the deal is agreed with the Palestinian side.
The blockade of the Gaza Strip was imposed by Egypt and Israel in 2007 after the Hamas Islamist movement seized power in the region, which entailed almost a full cessation of exports from the Gaza Strip and huge economic losses.
All government facilities in Tehran will be closed throughout the next seven days due to a spike in coronavirus disease cases, government spokesman Ali Rabiei said on Monday.
"In line with the suggestion of the COVID-19 response center, as well as at the approval of the president, all government facilities in the provinces of Tehran and Alborz will be closed for one week, starting tomorrow," Rabiei was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.
Iran has been among the hardest-hit Middle Eastern nations from the start of the pandemic. Over the past day, 25,441 cases were registered, taking the cumulative toll to over 3.5 million, including more than 87,000 deaths.
The Turkish authorities are not ruling out suspending tourist arrivals if the spread of the Delta coronavirus variants gets out of hand, but there is no such plans as of now, Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said on Monday.
On Sunday, Turkey reported the highest daily increase in COVID-19 cases since May, logging 7,680 new infections and 66 new deaths.
"There is no guarantee against anything, and we will certainly need to look into what is going on in a number of provinces with the Delta variant," Ersoy told CNN Turk, when asked whether the borders might end up closed.
The decision will be based on the overall COVID-19 situation countrywide, the minister clarified, adding that much will depend on the progress of Turkey's vaccination campaign. According to Ersoy, "it is going alright" so far.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in turn, described the increase in COVID-19 cases over the past several days a "threat that should not be allowed." Speaking to journalists in Istanbul, he urged Turkish citizens to wear masks and respect social distancing as well as get vaccinated.
Erdogan voiced hope that Turkey will be able to decrease its dependency on foreign supplies after developing its own COVID-19 vaccine.
The Turkish vaccination campaign began in January. To date, three vaccine have been employed therein, namely those developed by Sinovac and Pfizer, as well as Russia's Sputnik V.
