Caretaker Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, chaired a meeting of the Ministerial Committee for the follow up of the Coronavirus, in the presence of Ministers Zeina Akar, Raoul Nehme, Mohamed Fahmy, Imad Hoballah, Michel Najjar, RamziMusharrafieh, Hamad Hassan, Charbel Wehbeand Vartine Ohanian, in addition to PCMSecretary General, Judge Mahmoud Makie, Secretary General of the Higher Defense Council, Major General Mahmoud Al-Asmar, and PM Advisors, Khodor Taleb and Petra Khoury.

After the meeting, Minister Hassan said: “After examining the recommendations issued by the Coronavirus Technical Committee, and as a result of the monitoring of cases that appeared after social and religious events and some holidays, we found out that there was an increase in the number of infections as a result of citizens’ lack of commitment to preventive measures. In conjunction with the launching of the vaccination campaign, which began to give positive signals, we hope that with the approaching month of Ramadan and the upcoming holidays, citizens will fully adhere tothe preventive measures and will register on the vaccination platform”.

Hassan added: “Regardless of the type of vaccine, our reference remains the World Health Organization, which has recommended that AstraZeneca’s vaccine benefits outweigh the risks, and that the cases that reported symptoms amounted to 18 cases out of 34 million people who received this vaccine around the world.”

Hassan confirmed that, in Lebanon, not a singlehospitalization case was reported among the 8,000 citizens who received the AstraZeneca vaccine. He said that 50,000 “Sinopharm” vaccine jabs donated by China have reached Lebanon, together with setting up a swift plan to vaccinate the public sector, security services, the educational sector and some public institutions.

He stressed that 77% of those registered on the platform from the age group over 75 years have received the vaccine, in addition to 72% of workers in the health sector.