Lebanon Records 16 New COVID-19 Deaths, 884 Cases

By Staff, Agencies

Lebanon registered 16 new coronavirus-related deaths and 984 deaths Monday, as Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hasan said that the ministry had secured around 2 million Pfizer vaccines which would reach Lebanon in the first quarter of next year.

Hasan added that these vaccines will be distributed to the most vulnerable people first, such as health care workers and the elderly, which will cover around 30 percent of the population.

Among the newly recorded cases, 18 were among arriving travelers from abroad, bringing the total number of positive cases to 138,096 since the illness was first detected in Feb. 21. The total number of deaths now stands at 1,115.

The relatively low number of cases Monday came after a total of 6,157 PCR tests were administered in the last 24 hours – a low number of tests. The positivity rate of the tests in the last two weeks stood at 14.6 percent.

Hasan also said that the early reservation of the vaccine from Pfizer will ensure that it will be sold in Lebanon at reasonable prices, and that an agreement had been made between BDL and Pfizer while ensuring that there are no third parties, thus reducing the chances of monopolism.

The caretaker health minister affirmed that the ministry would ease the registration and acquisition of any potential vaccine that would be approved by the World Health Organization, the US Food and Drug Administration, and the European Medicines Agency.

Four new cases were also detected among health care workers, raising the total number of infections to 1,796. Head of the Order of Physicians Sharaf Abu Sharaf earlier Monday said that six doctors had died of coronavirus in Lebanon, three were in intensive care and around 200 were in quarantine.

The financially troubled health sector in Lebanon was further overwhelmed with the surge in coronavirus cases Lebanon witnessed in the beginning of fall.

With the dire economic situation in the country many doctors chose to leave Lebanon in search of better opportunities abroad. According to Abu Sharaf around 400 doctors have emigrated so far, a reality that has further strained the health care sector.