Egypt will receive its first shipments of Pfizer’s Paxlovid covid pills and AstraZeneca’s Evusheld antibody treatment this month, Health MInistry spokesperson Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said (watch, runtime: 12:38). Abdel Ghaffar had recently said the pills will arrive in the “coming weeks.”

The Health Ministry reported 769 new covid-19 infections yesterday, up from 723 the day before. Egypt has now disclosed a total of 388,651 confirmed cases of covid-19. The ministry also reported 19 new deaths, bringing the country’s total death toll to 21,836.

The US reported over 1 mn new covid-19 cases on Monday — a new record single-day number of new infections from the virus, CNBC reports. The record could in part be down to delayed reporting over the New Year weekend. That said, many experts now suggest death and hospitalization rates are the key figure to pay attention to with omicron, given that it’s generally less severe — particularly in those who have been vaccinated, boosted or previously infected.