Government employees who remain unvaccinated in two months time will be banned from entering their workplaces, according to a circular seen by Enterprise yesterday. The directive, sent by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly to government ministries, will require unvaccinated employees to either take PCR tests every 72 hours or receive a vaccine to be admitted into government buildings.

The government expects the decision to allow it to vaccinate all 4.5 mn civil servants before the end of November, Sky News Arabia reports.

The Health Ministry reported 718 new covid-19 infections yesterday, up from 702 the day before. Egypt has now disclosed a total of 303,045 confirmed cases of covid-19. The ministry also reported 39 new deaths, bringing the country’s total death toll to 17,263.

The daily death tally has grown quickly in recent days: In the past 10 days the number of deaths reported by the ministry has more than doubled, and has more than quadrupled since the beginning of the month. The ministry was reporting single-figure daily deaths at the end of August.

Deaths and cases will climb further in the days ahead given the coming colder weather, the return of children to schools, and a failure to follow precautionary measures, Mohamed El Nady, a member of the government’s covid-19 committee, told Kelma Akhira’s Lamees El Hadidy last night (watch, runtime: 12:04), calling the recent rise in deaths “worrying.”