CAIRO, Feb 2 (NNN-MENA) – The number of Turks that received the first dose of the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine, exceeded 2,137,000 yesterday. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority decided to extend the state of emergency for 30 days, to curb the spread of the virus.
Turkey started mass vaccination of health workers on Jan 14, after authorities approved the use of the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine.
As more and more people are being inoculated, Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced that schools will gradually start face-to-face education as of Mar 1, in line with the number of COVID-19 cases.
Turkey yesterday reported 7,719 new cases, including 636 symptomatic patients, as the total number of positive cases in the country reached 2,485,182, the country’s health ministry announced.
The death toll rose by 124 to 26,117, while the total recoveries climbed to 2,370,431, after 8,016 more cases recovered in the last 24 hours.
In Iran, which has the second-largest infection number in the Middle East after Turkey, health authorities announced expansion of traffic restrictions in cities on red and orange alert, to cities on yellow alert.
“To preserve achievements in the control of COVID-19, traffic restrictions effective in controlling the disease, have been extended from orange alert areas to yellow ones,” the Iranian Deputy Minister of Health and Medical Education, Alireza Raisi, said.
Raisi said, there are currently 18 cities on an orange alert, some 124 others on yellow alert, and 306 cities on blue alert, the lowest alert level in the COVID-19 governmental evaluation system.
Earlier in the day, Iran’s health ministry announced 6,597 new COVID-19 cases, raising the country’s overall count to 1,424,596 confirmed cases.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Health Minister, Hassan al-Tamimi, said that, Iraq would receive three million doses of the vaccine late this month, while the Ministry of Health reported 984 new cases.
The efforts made by the Ministry of Health with the World Health Organisation and companies producing vaccines, especially companies approved by the Iraqi National Board for Selection of Drugs (NBSD), resulted in setting the end of this month as the date for delivery of vaccines to the Iraqi Ministry of Health, al-Tamimi said.
“Iraq will get 2.5 to three million doses, which will arrive at the end of this month,” al-Tamimi said without giving further details.
He said, the vaccines will first be distributed to health personnel, security personnel, medical workers, elderly over 50 years old, and people with chronic diseases.
On Jan 19, the ministry said, the NBSD approved the emergency use of China’s Sinopharm and Britain’s AstraZeneca vaccines, to contain the spread of the COVID-19 in the country.
Also yesterday, the Ministry of Health reported 984 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total nationwide number of cases to 620,620.
Israel’s Ministry of Health reported 8,399 new cases yesterday, bringing the tally in the country to 651,405. The ministry also reported 10 new deaths, raising the toll to 13,057.
The Omani health ministry announced 198 new infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 134,524, while three deaths were reported, pushing the tally up in the Gulf country to 1,532.
The Qatari health ministry added 385 new infections for the past 24 hours, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 151,720.
Meanwhile, 147 more recovered from the virus, bringing the overall recoveries to 145,953, while one reportedly died, pushing the fatalities up to 249.– NNN-MENA
