Egypt bans unvaccinated citizens from accessing government facilities

Cairo –  Egyptian Cabinet Spokesman Nader Saad told local ON satellite TV channel on Tuesday evening that Egypt’s unvaccinated citizens would no longer be able to receive public services at government facilities as of Wednesday.

Saad said that any citizen wishing to enter a public office would now need to either show a Covid-19 vaccination certificate or a recent PCR negative test result as per a government decision taken earlier in October.

Banks, metro stations, and other public means of transport have been exempted from the government decision provided that customers follow precautionary measures.

Earlier on in mid-November, unvaccinated civil servants were also denied access to their offices unless they provide PCR test results.

Last week, Cairo University did not allow unvaccinated students to sit for their midterm exams. Prior to that, unvaccinated students were banned from entering university campuses and residing in dorms.

Free of charge Covid-19 vaccines of different brands are available through the health ministry all over the country. But some Egyptians, especially the least educated ones, reportedly refrain from getting vaccinated. They believe that jabs could cause death or serious side effects.

On Tuesday evening, the Egyptian health ministry reported a total of 949 Covid-19 cases and 62 deaths, among a population of about 101 millions.

These numbers are believed to be inaccurate though, as patients often self-isolate without reporting positive cases  to the ministry.

Families who had lost their relatives due to Covid-19 told The New Arab that they believed Egyptian authorities were trying to avoid public panic by not recording the disease as the cause of death in official papers.