Egypt’s official daily covid tally is back in four figures: The Health Ministry reported 1,101 new covid-19 infections yesterday, up from 1,079 the day before. Egypt has now disclosed a total of 398,879 confirmed cases of covid-19. The ministry also reported 26 new deaths, bringing the country’s total death toll to 22,123.

Egypt received 1 mn AstraZeneca jabs as a gift from Argentina on Thursday, a gesture to celebrate the countries’ 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations, according to a statement (pdf) from the Argentinian embassy. Our friend Eduardo Varela, Argentina’s ambassador to Egypt, met several local officials at Cairo International Airport as the vaccines arrived.

Omicron was the likely cause of an 89% spike in covid cases during the first week of January across the Eastern Mediterranean, the WHO’s Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Ahmed Al Mandhari, said at a media briefing. Al Mandhari noted that the rise in cases coincided with a 13% drop in deaths in the region, but added that while the omicron variant appears to cause less severe disease than its predecessor delta, “this certainly does not mean it should be underestimated.”