CAIRO, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed said on Saturday that the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese drugmaker Sinopharm has been officially licensed for emergency use in Egypt.

"Tomorrow, the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) will send us the official license early in the morning, which it has already issued today," Zayed told a local TV show.

Egypt received the first batch of Sinopharm vaccines on Dec. 10. The minister said that the batch went through four tests conducted by the EDA and they all proved the safety of the vaccine.

Zayed said that Egypt will receive the second shipment of COVID-19 vaccines within days, which are expected to be provided to citizens later in January.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, Egypt and China have been cooperating closely in the fight against the pandemic through medical aid and expertise exchanges.

To date, Egypt has confirmed 140,878 COVID-19 cases with 7,741 deaths, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.  ■