Sudan's Health Minister Omar Ahmed Al-Najeeb has revealed a remarkable decline in coronavirus cases during the second wave.
However, he stressed that the number of tests carried out must increase.
Notably, the ministry will roll out next week a vaccination campaign to target 400,000 health workers and elderly who suffer from critical diseases.
Sudan has received the first batch of over 800,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine via the WHO-led COVAX distribution facility.
This is an initial batch of the vaccine from a total of 3.4 million doses secured through COVAX on Wednesday.
Sudan reported 1,895 deaths out of more than 545,000 coronavirus cases, since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. The recoveries tally reached 23,048.
"Sudan received today 828,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine," Najeeb told a press conference, adding that the vaccine will be given free of charge to all Sudanese.
Dalia Idris, a health ministry official coordinating vaccine deployment, told AFP that three percent of the population will be targeted with the first batch, and 17 percent with the second.
The first phase will include health workers and elderly, while the second will include instructors at schools and universities in addition to policemen and traffic men, she added.
The aim is to vaccinate 80 percent of the country’s population, according to Idris, in order to achieve herd immunity.
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdouk has directed relevant parties to start arrangements for the vaccination process to all targeted groups as soon as possible following the arrival of the vaccine.
