Ahram Online examines what Egyptians were most searching for in Arabic on Google in 2021.

1 – Al-Ahly Club

According to Google Trends, “Al-Ahly club” in Arabic was the most searched term for Egyptians in 2021.

Ah well finished third in the Club World Cup in February 2021 in Doha, then claimed their 10e African crown by winner of the Total CAF Champions League 2020-21 in July 2021, giving the Cairo giants a very successful year in all respects.

2 – Results of Thanaweya Amma

The second most searched term for Egyptians this year was “Thanaweya Amma 2021 results” in Arabic.

Since the Ministry of Education began posting results of high school career-determining exams online in the 2000s, the term Thanaweya Amma has been the subject of much research during the months of July and August.

This year the number of searches for Thanaweya Amma has reached their peak from August 15 to 21.

Education Minister Tarek Shawki announced this year that for the first time in more than three decades, none of the top-ranked students in the country had achieved the top mark.

This year, 74 percent of students passed the national secondary exams, a notable drop from 81% in 2019/20, after further reforms have been adopted in the examination system.

Competitive national exam scores determine which college and university students can attend, if applicable.

For the first time in three decades, the minimum grades required for admission to public universities for the 2021/22 academic year, including top faculties such as medicine and engineering, has experienced a dramatic decline.

3- Registration for the coronavirus vaccination

Signing up to receive coronavirus vaccines came third on the Egyptians’ most searched list on Google in 2021.

Egypt launched its mass public immunization campaign in January this year, prioritizing healthcare workers, chronically ill patients and the elderly.

In February, the Ministry of Health and Population launched an official website for the public to register for vaccines.

At first, vaccination started slowly, but gradually picked up as the country received millions of vaccines from COVAX and foreign donors and opened more vaccination centers.

Google trends show that search for coronavirus vaccination records peaked in August, alongside a rapid increase in the vaccination rate.

In November, Egypt announced it was including 12 to 15 year olds and 15 to 18 year olds in its mass vaccination campaign.

In mid-November, the government demanded that only vaccinated state employees be allowed into their workplaces without a negative PCR test.

In December, Egypt began barring unvaccinated citizens seeking public services from entering government institutions. That same month, the health ministry began texting groups eligible to receive coronavirus vaccine boosters.

Earlier this year, the government set a target of fully immunizing 40 million people by the end of 2021, but has since lowered its target to 23 million.

When it comes to vaccine stocks, Egypt tops the list of African countries, with 64.5 million doses of vaccine available.

Egypt has a stock of imported doses of Sinopharm, Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

It has also locally produced millions of doses of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine.

Egypt has reported 383,003 COVID infections since the start of the pandemic in February 2020. The total number of deaths from the virus stands at 21,667, with 318,456 recoveries.

4 – Sherihan

Egyptian superstar Sherihan’s big comeback to television in April after two decades of retirement landed him a Most Sought-after spot in 2021, according to Google.

Google Trends showed searches for the 57-year-old Ramadan trivia game icon from the ’80s and’ 90s exploded that month when she starred in a big-budget commercial campaign for Vodafone Egypt.

In July, Sherihan returned to television with the musical Coco Chanel, which aired on the Saudi platform Shahid.

5 – Summer Olympics

Egyptians followed the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics closely in July, as Google Trends shows, as the country entered the 17-day competition with its largest delegation ever.

Egypt finished 54th out of 86 on the Olympic medal table after winning six medals – the most ever for Egypt at the Olympics – with one gold, one silver and four medals. bronze in four different competitions: Taekwondo, Greco-Roman wrestling, karate, and the Modern Pentathlon.

Seif Eissa and Hedaya Malak won two bronze medals in taekwondo; Mohamed Ibrahim won bronze in Greco-Roman wrestling; Gianna Farouk won a bronze medal in karate; Ahmed El-Gendi won the silver medal in the modern pentathlon; and Feryal Ashraf snatched gold in karate.

Ashraf became the first Egyptian woman to win a gold medal in karate and at the Olympics.

It was also Egypt’s first gold medal since wrestler Karam Gaber won gold at the Athens Olympics in 2004.

6- The plural of milk

The importance of the Thanaweya Amma exams for Egyptians this year was once again asserted on Google Trends in July.

When a rumor went viral that the Arabic language exam in Thanaweya Amma included the question “What is the plural of Halib (milk in Arabic)?”, Students and parents frantically began searching for “Halib” .

Whoops! Halib is both singular and plural in Arabic.

Fortunately for the students, this question was not included in the tests.

7- The Palestinian flag

Searches for the flag of Palestine in Egypt skyrocketed in May, according to Google Trends, during heavy Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip and Palestinian resistance factions bombarding Israel with rockets.

The conflict began on May 10 when Israel cracked down on Palestinian demonstrators protesting Israel’s plan to forcibly evict Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah district of East Jerusalem.

24-hour Israeli airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip killed 250 Palestinians, many of them women and children, injured 8,000 more and destroyed hundreds of residential buildings.

In late May, Egypt sponsored a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestinian factions to end the 11-day military operation in the Gaza Strip.

Egypt has also pledged $ 500 million as a contribution to reconstruction efforts in Gaza with the participation of Egyptian companies.

In the weeks following the ceasefire, Egyptian General Intelligence Chief Abbas Kamel traveled to Tel Aviv, Ramallah and Gaza to cement the deal, which has become one of the main diplomatic achievements of Egypt in 2021.

Egypt continues to sponsor rounds of national dialogue between Palestinian factions in Cairo to achieve Palestinian unity for peace negotiations.

8 – The uncontrollable Chinese rocket

In early May, millions of people around the world, including Egyptians according to Google Trends, anxiously followed the fate of the out of control Chinese rocket.

At the end of April, China launched its Long March 5B rocket with the Tianhe central module for its space station, which is being built in low orbit.

After the rocket helped launch the central module into orbit, its body re-entered Earth’s atmosphere uncontrollably over the Arabian Peninsula, according to the United States Space Command.

It then crashed in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives, according to Chinese media.

Construction of the Chinese space station is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

9 – The great dam of the Ethiopian Renaissance

It has been a full year of Google searches by the Egyptians for the term “Renaissance Dam,” referring to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), according to Google Trends.

This is not surprising, since the Egyptians, who depend on the Nile for 97 percent of their water, have waited for years for Addis Ababa to accept a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD in order to safeguard the shares. of the country in the water of the Nile.

Searches for the Ethiopian dam peaked in July, when Ethiopia announced that it had completed the second filling of the GERD over objections from Egypt and Sudan.

Earlier in July, and for the second year in a row, Egypt and Sudan took the dispute to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), and the 15-member body called on the parties concerned to resume negotiations and to avoid taking unilateral action.

In September, the United Nations Security Council adopted a presidential statement drafted by Tunisia encouraging Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia to resume negotiations to quickly reach a “mutually acceptable and binding agreement on filling and functioning ”of the GERD according to a precise timetable.

Egypt and Sudan welcomed the statement, but Ethiopia rejected it.

Since April, GERD talks have been halted despite attempts by the African Union to revive them.

Currently, the Ethiopian government is embroiled in civil war, while Sudan experiences internal political instability.

10- Samir Ghanem

Legendary Egyptian comedian and actor Samir Ghanem died in May at the age of 84 from the coronavirus.

With a career spanning more than six decades, Ghanem was one of the most iconic artists in Egypt and the Arab world.

Ghanem’s death was quickly followed in August by the death of his wife, famous Egyptian actress Dalal Abdel-Aziz at the age of 61, also due to complications from the coronavirus.

News of the iconic couple’s consecutive death shocked the country.

In May and August, Google Trends recorded significant search spikes for both artists.

In August, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ordered that a bridge in New Cairo be named after Ghanem.

Ghanem and Abdel-Aziz are survived by two daughters, Donia and Amy, who are also well-known actresses.

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