MECC Coronavirus (COVID 19) Weekly Report

SYRIA: COVID-19

Reporting period: from 18 to 24 Jan 2021

Coronavirus cases: 13628 Active cases: 5687 Recovered: 7056 Deaths: 885 [1]

In GoS-controlled areas of the country,(as of 24 January), the Syrian Ministry of Health (MoH) reported 13628 Laboratory-confirmed cases, 885 fatalities, and 7056 Recoveries.
13628 laboratory-confirmed cases have been reported by the Syrian MoH : 2586 in Damascus; 2159 in Homs; 2105 in Aleppo; 1622 in Lattakia; 1413 in Rural Damascus; 1016 in Tartous; 923 in Dar’a; 829 in Sweida; 638 in; Hama; 237 in Quneitra; 58 in Deir-Ez-Zor; 35 in Al-Hasakeh and 7 in Ar-Raqqa.

The government team concerned with measures to address the Corona epidemic decided to hold sports matches without an audience, provided that these matches are transmitted through the official media.[2]
The government team discussed the stages of negotiation with the World Health Organization in the field of vaccination against the Coronavirus and instructed the Ministry of Health to present a memorandum in light of the outcome of the negotiations on the followed mechanism, stages of achievement and obstacles, so that they could be discussed during the next session of the Council of Ministers to take the necessary actions regarding them, stressing that the government is making every effort. Its efforts to obtain safe vaccines and present them to the citizens.
The government team assigned the Ministry of Health to study more additional measures that would protect the medical staff working in the field of responding to the covid-19 epidemic and strengthen the health sector response in this field.

Reporting period: from 19 to Jan 25 2021

Coronavirus cases: 279,597 Deaths: 2,320 Recovered: 165,729

Lebanon announced the extension of the strict lockdown until February 8, as citizens resumed staying at home.
During this reporting period, the average number of cases per day dropped to 3946.
Despite the drop, hospitals in Lebanon are still struggling as there are not enough beds, drugs, oxygen, ventilators or staff.
Dr. Firas Abiad, the head of Lebanon's main coronavirus hospital Rafic Hariri Hospital, claimed that the health sector is still close to collapse.
Hospitals blame the government for easing restrictions during December.

With the increase in the number of corona infections in the past few weeks, medical sources say that the rate of infections in Lebanon has exceeded 20%.

Different media outlets shared different findings of the quantity of vaccine that should be arriving to Lebanon. Some stated that the first batch of vaccines will be not exceeding 50,000, a quantity not sufficient to effectively deter the spread of the virus.
Michel Daher, a Lebanese Politician, claimed via his Twitter Account that he is working on importing ten thousand doses of the Corona vaccine, for the benefit of the Michel Daher Social Foundation, with the aim of distributing them free of charge to the elderly and workers in the productive sectors.

The Ministry of Public Health intensified awareness campaigns regarding Coronavirus on all its social media sites, in partnership with the Ministry of Information, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the Disaster Risk Management Unit at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.

The General Directorate of Civil Aviation issued Circular No. 2/6 dated 01/24/2021 regarding hotel quarantine for expatriates. The most prominent thing was the abolition of the hotel quarantine for all arrivals to Lebanon as of Wednesday, 01/27/2021, and replaced it with home quarantine, provided that the municipality assumes the responsibility of monitoring in coordination with the Ministry of Public Health and follow-up from the National Disaster Committee.