BEIRUT: Lebanon finalized a deal with Pfizer on Sunday for 2.1 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine amid surge in infections that has overwhelmed the country’s health care system.
The doses are to arrive in Lebanon starting early February, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
The government’s statement said the Pfizer vaccines will be complemented with another 2.7 million doses from the UN-led program to provide for countries in need. It gave no date for when those doses are expected to arrive but said the agreement was signed in October.
A lawmaker earlier told The Associated Press the Pfizer deal being negotiated is for $18 a dose, a price that takes into consideration Lebanon’s economic troubles, and is expected to cover 20% of the population for free. A World Bank loan is to cover most of the cost.
Another 2 million doses are being negotiated in coordination with Lebanon’s private sector and the other international pharmaceutical companies that have developed the vaccines, the ministry said. It named Oxford-Astrazeneca and China’s Sinopharm as the international sources.
Lebanon, a country of more than 6 million, including at least 1 million refugees, has seen a massive climb in infections since Christmas and New Year holidays. The surge has overwhelmed hospitals and the health care system.
During the holiday season, restrictions in place for months to combat the virus were eased to encourage spending by some 80,000 expatriates who returned home to celebrate. The pandemic has hit Lebanon at a time when it already was struggling with a crippling economic and financial crisis. The combination has sent the country’s currency tumbling, banks putting informal controls on withdrawals and businesses shuttering around the country.
As infections increased and ICU beds filled up, authorities imposed the strictest lockdown yet starting last Thursday, hoping that restrictions in place until February 1 could help contain the rise.
In recent weeks, between 4,000 and 5,000 infections were recorded a day and a rise in daily death tolls, up from numbers that hovered around 1,000 since November.
In the first 11 days of January alone, Lebanon’s Red Cross said it has transported over 1,200 COVID-19 patients to hospitals.
Lebanon has so far recorded 249,158 infections and some 1,866 deaths.
Many have expressed concern the measures have come too late — many hospitals have already reached maximum capacity for coronavirus patients, some have run out of beds, oxygen tanks and ventilators while others have halted elective surgeries.
There are already calls to extend the lockdown beyond Valentine’s Day on February 14— another widely celebrated holiday in Lebanon.
Following bureaucratic delays, the country now is putting hopes on vaccines. Parliament approved on Friday the law that allowed for signing the final deal with Pfizer, offering guarantees for pharmaceutical companies for emergency rollout of the vaccine. Lebanon has at least 12 refrigerators to store the vaccine.
Gulf countries, along with Israel, were the first in the Middle East to secure vaccines and begin inoculating their populations. Iran, which has struggled with the worst outbreak in the region, announced it is banning the import of American and British vaccines and had began in December the human test phase of its homemade vaccine.
Neighboring Syria, torn by the 10-year conflict, is waiting for securing vaccines through the UN-led program but President Bashar Assad said he will discuss with ally Russia securing the vaccine developed there. Iraq said it secure Pfizer vaccines by early this year, but has not released any more information, including inoculation plans.
In Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, health authorities said earlier this month the Chinese vaccine has been approved for emergency use, and inoculations would begin within two weeks. It is also negotiating with Pfizer and Oxford-Astrazeneca.
The second stage targets people who are over 50, health practitioners, and those who have asthma, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, chronic heart disease including coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or active cancer, and those with a BMI of between 30 and 40.
The final stage targets all citizens and residents wanting to take the vaccine.
The Ministry of Health on Thursday reported 11 new COVID-19-related deaths. The death toll is now 6,091.
There were 181 new cases reported in the Kingdom, meaning 360,516 people have now contracted the disease. There are 3,060 active cases, 453 of which are in a critical condition.
According to the ministry, 45 of the newly recorded cases were in Riyadh, there were 37 in Makkah, and 26 in Madinah. The total number of recoveries in the Kingdom has increased by 173 to 351,365. Saudi Arabia has conducted more than 10.5 million PCR tests so far, with 39,441 carried out in the past 24 hours.
Lebanon signs with Pfizer for 2.1 million vaccine doses
https://arab.news/2pyka
Lebanon signs with Pfizer for 2.1 million vaccine doses
- Health ministry says doses are expected to start arriving early February, additional 2 million doses being negotiated
- A massive surge in infections since the holidays has overwhelmed the health care system
Jordan’s king says Israel’s resumption of Gaza attacks a ‘dangerous step’
“Israel’s resumption of attacks on Gaza is an extremely dangerous step that adds further devastation to an already dire humanitarian situation,” he said, standing next to French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
Gaza health ministry says one dead among foreign UN staff injured in Israeli strike
GAZA: The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that a foreign UN worker was killed and five others seriously injured Wednesday by an Israeli strike on their headquarters.
A statement from the health ministry said there was “one death and five severe injuries among foreign staff working for UN institutions... due to the bombing of their headquarters by the occupation in the central governorate a short while ago,” adding they had been taken to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. AFP has not been able to confirm the information with the UN.
Hamas says open to talks as Israel keeps up Gaza strikes
- Hamas is open to talks on getting the ceasefire back on track but will not renegotiate the agreement that took effect on January 19
- Negotiations have stalled over how to proceed with a ceasefire whose first phase expired in early March
GAZA CITY: Hamas said it remained open to negotiations while calling for pressure on Israel Wednesday to implement a Gaza truce after its deadliest bombing since the fragile ceasefire began in January.
Israel carried out fresh air strikes on Gaza on Wednesday, killing 13 people according to the territory’s civil defense agency, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday’s raids were “only the beginning.”
The United Nations and countries around the world condemned the high civilian death toll in the renewed strikes, which have killed more than 400 people, according to Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Hamas is open to talks on getting the ceasefire back on track but will not renegotiate the agreement that took effect on January 19, an official from the militant group said.
“Hamas has not closed the door on negotiations but we insist there is no need for new agreements,” Taher Al-Nunu told AFP.
“We have no conditions, but we demand that the occupation be compelled to immediately halt its aggression and war of extermination, and begin the second phase of negotiations.”
Negotiations have stalled over how to proceed with a ceasefire whose first phase expired in early March, with Israel and Hamas disagreeing on whether to move to a new phase intended to bring the war to an end.
Instead, Israel and the United States have sought to change the terms of the deal by extending stage one.
That would delay the start of phase two, which was meant to establish a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and was swiftly rejected by Hamas, which demanded full implementation of the original deal.
“There is no need for new agreements in light of the existing agreement signed by all parties,” Nunu said.
Israel and the United States have portrayed Hamas’s rejection of an extended stage one as a refusal to release more Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Netanyahu’s office said he ordered the renewed strikes on Gaza after “Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages.”
In a televised address late Tuesday, the premier said: “From now on, negotiations will take place only under fire... Military pressure is essential for the release of additional hostages.
“Hamas has already felt the strength of our arm in the past 24 hours. And I want to promise you — and them — this is only the beginning.”
The White House said Israel consulted US President Donald Trump’s administration before launching the strikes, while Israel said the return to fighting was “fully coordinated” with Washington.
The intense Israeli bombardment sent a stream of new casualties to the few hospitals still functioning in Gaza and triggered fears of a return to full-blown war after two months of relative calm.
The roads were once again filled with Palestinian civilians on the move as families responded to evacuation warnings from the Israeli army.
“Today I felt that Gaza is a real hell,” said Jihan Nahhal, a 43-year-old from Gaza City, adding some of her relatives were wounded or killed in the strikes.
“Suddenly there were huge explosions, as if it were the first day of the war.”
The Gaza health ministry said the bodies of 413 people had been received by hospitals, adding people were still under the rubble.
A spokeswoman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF said medical facilities that “have already been decimated” by the war were now “overwhelmed.”
Governments in the Middle East, Europe and beyond called for the renewed hostilities to end.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Israel’s raids on Gaza “are shattering the tangible hopes of so many Israelis and Palestinians of an end to suffering on all sides.”
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she told her Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar that the new strikes on Gaza were “unacceptable.”
Both Egypt and Qatar, which brokered the Gaza ceasefire alongside the United States, condemned Israel’s resort to military action.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said the strikes were part of “deliberate efforts to make the Gaza Strip uninhabitable and force the Palestinians into displacement.”
Trump has floated a proposal to move Palestinians out of Gaza, an idea rejected by Palestinians and governments in the region and beyond, but embraced by some Israeli politicians.
Israel’s resumption of military operations in Gaza, after it already halted all humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza this month, drew an immediate political dividend for Netanyahu.
The far-right Otzma Yehudit party, which quit his ruling coalition in January in protest at the Gaza ceasefire, rejoined its ranks with its firebrand leader Itamar Ben Gvir again becoming national security minister.
The war began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliation in Gaza has killed at least 48,577 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry.
Of the 251 hostages seized during the attack, 58 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Trump meets UAE national security adviser, discusses strategic partnership prospects
- Sheikh Tahnoon is on an official visit to the US where he will meet with senior US administration officials and business leaders
DUBAI: UAE National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al-Nahyan met with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday in the presence of senior US officials.
“Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed and the US President discussed opportunities to strengthen the long-term strategic partnership between the UAE and the US and explored ways to enhance it to serve their shared interests,” the state run WAM news agency reported.
Sheikh Tahnoon is on an official visit to the US where he will meet with senior US administration officials and business leaders.
During his meeting with Trump, Tahnoon affirmed the UAE’s commitment to strengthening economic ties with the US by expanding partnerships.
Sheikh Tahnoon also met with US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and discussed ways to advance bilateral relations and the latest developments on matters of mutual interest.
Iraq makes rare seizure of ship suspected of fuel smuggling in Gulf
BAGHDAD: Iraqi naval forces have seized an unidentified ship in Iraqi territorial waters in the Gulf suspected of smuggling fuel, the naval forces said in a statement.
Fuel smuggling is common in Gulf waters, where heavily subsidised fuel from some countries is sold on the black market to buyers across the region, though it is relatively rare for Iraqi authorities to seize ships.
A naval patrol boat intercepted the ship on Tuesday after receiving intelligence about suspected illegal activity, according to the navy statement issued late on Tuesday.
The navy said an Iranian captain, eight Indian nationals, and two Iraqi crew members were onboard the ship.
The navy released a picture of the ship, in which no name was visible. It gave no further details about the vessel.
The ship was towed to Umm Qasr naval base for further investigation, and the crew has been handed over to the local police, the navy said.
