Signs of COVID-19 Community Outbreak in Lebanon

Arab World

March 31st, 7:07am

Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat

An MEA flight attendant receives a COVID-19 vaccine shot. (EPA)

Lebanon could be on the verge of a community outbreak of the COVID-19 virus as the country continues to register a worrying increase in the number of daily infections and deaths. Meanwhile, officials call on the people to register for vaccination amid a low turnout and despite a slow delivery of the shots. Head of the health parliamentary committee, MP Dr. Assem Araji warned that the percentage of positive PCR tests is still very high, at around 18 percent, while the death rate is at an average of 45 daily. “Those numbers indicate that we are witnessing a community outbreak of the pandemic,” he said. Araji hoped that more people would sign up to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine, although the company had slowed down its deliveries after its shots had come under scrutiny in Europe. “Lebanon was waiting to receive 93,000 doses of the vaccine, but it only received 33,000,” Araji revealed. Lebanon began its inoculation campaign in mid-February after finalizing a deal for some 2 million doses of the Pfizer shot. The country received more than 220,000 Pfizer-BioNTech doses over the past six weeks with around 175,000 jabs already administered. Last week, 33,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines arrived to the country. Rafik Hariri Hospital Director Firas Abiad published a graph showing the number of COVID-19 deaths in the category of 75 plus age group. He said that fatalities from the pandemic usually happen four weeks after contracting the infection. “The peak in late January and early February is a consequence of gatherings and other activities during the end of last year,” he said, adding that the decline after that peak started before the vaccination drive, which underscores the benefits of restrictions. Abiad also revealed that early in March, two weeks after the start of the vaccination drive, the number of daily deaths had halved. “The vaccines will hopefully help cement these gains,” he said, adding that on Tuesday, three different vaccines were rolled out in Lebanon. “The numbers of those vaccinated will now rise rapidly. But we need to make the right conclusions and not celebrate early. Otherwise, we will repeat old mistakes,” Abiad wrote on his Twitter account.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2891771/signs-covid-19-community-outbreak-lebanon