Lebanon has recorded during the last 24 hours four deaths and 104 new cases of Covid-19, according to the daily report published on Saturday evening by the Ministry of Health. These figures bring to 543,371 the number of cumulative cases since February 2020, date of the onset of the pandemic in the country. Among these cases, there are 7,819 deaths and 529,618 recoveries. As for the cases still active, 104 patients are hospitalized, 61 of whom were admitted to intensive care.The positivity rate in relation to the number of screening tests carried out over the last fourteen days is 1.3%.
At the same time, Lebanon, even if it does not organize a vaccination “marathon” this weekend, continues its campaign launched in February. According to the health ministry report, 763,871 people received their first dose of vaccine in the past 24 hours, and 396,507 the second dose. In all, since the start of the campaign four months ago, 16% have received the first injection, and 8.3% both needed to achieve the most complete immunity possible with the products Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sputnik-V, or even Sinopharm.
Partial vaccination
Welcoming the slowdown in the circulation of the virus, the director of the Rafic Hariri government hospital in Beirut, Firas Abiad, however called for caution: “The fact that a vaccination marathon was not held this weekend reflects the logistical difficulties relating to the inoculation of a greater number of individuals, in particular the younger ones. This is also due to a high number of withdrawals for the appointments made for the product AstraZeneca / Oxford “, lamented the doctor on Twitter. He also admitted that the vaccination rate of the population in Lebanon remains low. “Partial vaccination only partially protects against the virus,” Dr Abiad recalled. “Even in the presence of immunity, contamination once again, even after vaccination, remains a reality,” he said. “A large part of our population is currently exposed to the virus.”