CAIRO, Sept 18 (Aswat Masriya) - Around 1700 patients registered on the Health Ministry's website to receive a cure for hepatitis C (HCV) on Thursday, Gamal Esmat, member of the Egyptian National Committee on Viral Hepatitis told Aswat Masriya in a phone interview. 

Esmat said that the number of registrations is constantly increasing to acquire the new hepatitis C pill Sovaldi. The ministry opened the online registration on Thursday morning.

Egypt's government signed in July an agreement with the U.S.'s Gilead company to sell its Sovaldi treatment to Egyptians for 1% of its price. 

The course of medication will  last for almost eight months, starting September 18 until July 14, according to the health ministry. 

Egypt has the world's highest prevalence of the virus that can be spread through blood and often via contaminated needles.