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After an agonising year fighting Covid-19, Lebanon’s healthcare system can at last see light at the end of the tunnel.
Healthcare workers are days away from being vaccinated against “one of the cruellest diseases they’ve ever treated”, said Eveline Hitti, chairwoman of the department of emergency medicine at the American University of Beirut Medical Centre
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More than 28,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived on Saturday. More batches will follow this month and later in the year. In all, 2.1 million doses are expected.
“First doses will start on Sunday in limited numbers and will expand on Monday to several centres all over Lebanon,” said Abdul Rahman Bizri, head of Lebanon’s national coronavirus committee. They will be administered with priority given to health workers and high-risk groups as a start, he said.
Wednesday, 10 February, 2021 - 07:15
Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan visited Jezzine Government Hospital on Tuesday (NNA) Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat
Lebanese Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan announced Tuesday that there was no obstacle to starting coronavirus vaccinations early next week.
“All the necessary technical and logistical matters have been secured through a group of donors,” he said at the Marjayoun Governmental Hospital, as part of a tour to the districts of Jezzine, Marjayoun and Bint Jbeil in south Lebanon.
Hassan also deemed that allocating vaccination centers at public hospitals reflects confidence and support to the institutions. “We ought to encourage any hospital for taking the initiative to open a section for coronavirus patients and volunteer to serve its people,” he said.
Lebanon reported a single-day record of 98 Covid-19 deaths on Friday.
The grim milestone came after a sharp increase in number of deaths due to the coronavirus this year, which experts have linked to an easing of health restrictions over the December holiday season.
The country of six million people, including Palestinian and Syrian refugees, recorded 1,627 deaths in January alone, compared with 1,455 over the past year.
With more than 312,000 cases so far, the Covid-19 death rate in Lebanon stood at 1.1 per cent as of Friday, according to statistics compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The per capita death rate was 49.6 per 100,000 people.
Former Syriatel GM, Nader Qal ai, Dies of Coronavirus syrianobserver.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from syrianobserver.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Vulnerable bearing the brunt of Beirut blast fallout
Updated / Thursday, 4 Feb 2021
12:54
A man walks by a building damaged by the 4 August blast in Beirut s Gemayzeh neighbourhood
The blast killed 200 people, injured more than 6,500 and flattened whole neighbourhoods including homes, schools and hospitals.
Close to 300,000 people were left homeless, with many more continuing to live in homes that have yet to be repaired. It is palpable. You can feel it. A lot of people are angry. A lot of people are upset, but people are also just exhausted
Irish woman Alison Heron, from north county Dublin has lived in the city of Beirut for the last two years, where she works as Trócaire’s Head of Programmes.