Libya Reports More than 1,000 Virus Cases in 24 Hours

Libya reports over 1,000 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours. (Reuters)
Libya reports over 1,000 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours. (Reuters)
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Libya Reports More than 1,000 Virus Cases in 24 Hours

Libya reports over 1,000 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours. (Reuters)
Libya reports over 1,000 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours. (Reuters)

Libya’s National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) recorded on Tuesday 1,031 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours.

These include 769 new cases and 262 who were in contact with infected people, raising the tally to 38,468, 2,410 recoveries and 602 deaths.

The cases were distributed among 40 cities and municipalities across the country, with 520 cases in Tripoli alone, 45 in the western city of Zawiya and 35 in the eastern city of Benghazi.

The Center urged Libyans to follow all the precautionary measures and avoid gatherings in social events and malls.

Separately, the Government of National Accord’s (GNA) Supreme Committee to Combat the Coronavirus Epidemic (SCCCE) has allowed the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments to reopen mosques, urging them to take all the necessary preventive measures.

The GNA’s Health Ministry announced on Tuesday the establishment of a “medical tent” to sort out visitors to Tripoli University Hospital before allowing them to enter.

According to a ministry statement, stages through which patients pass differ according to their symptoms, adding that the number of daily visitors will be limited to 1,000 to 1,500.

These stages begin by taking the body temperature, heart rate, oxygen rate and vital functions and end with isolating those tested positive for COVID-19.



UN Begins Polio Vaccination in Gaza, as Fighting Rages

 Palestinians gather during a polio vaccination campaign, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, September 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians gather during a polio vaccination campaign, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, September 1, 2024. (Reuters)
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UN Begins Polio Vaccination in Gaza, as Fighting Rages

 Palestinians gather during a polio vaccination campaign, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, September 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians gather during a polio vaccination campaign, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, September 1, 2024. (Reuters)

The United Nations, in collaboration with Palestinian health authorities, began to vaccinate 640,000 children in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, with Israel and Hamas agreeing to brief pauses in their 11-month war to allow the campaign to go ahead.

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed last month that a baby was partially paralyzed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.

The campaign began on Sunday in areas of central Gaza, and will move to other areas in coming days. Fighting will pause for at least eight hours on three consecutive days.

The WHO said the pauses will likely need to extend to a fourth day and the first round of vaccinations will take just under two weeks.

'Complex’ campaign

"This is the first few hours of the first phase of a massive campaign, one of the most complex in the world," said Juliette Touma, communications director of UNRWA, the UN Palestinian refugee agency.

"Today is test time for parties to the conflict to respect these area pauses to allow the UNRWA teams and other medical workers to reach children with these very precious two drops. It’s a race against time," Touma told Reuters.

Israel and Hamas, who have so far failed to conclude a deal that would end the war, said they would cooperate to allow the campaign to succeed.

WHO officials say at least 90% of the children need to be vaccinated twice with four weeks between doses for the campaign to succeed, but it faces huge challenges in Gaza, which has been largely destroyed by the war.

"Children continue to be exposed, it knows no borders, checkpoints or lines of fighting. Every child must be vaccinated in Gaza and Israel to curb the risks of this vicious disease spreading," said Touma.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued to battle Hamas-led fighters in several areas across the Palestinian enclave. Residents said Israeli army troops blew up several houses in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, while tanks continued to operate in the northern Gaza City suburb of Zeitoun.

On Sunday, Israel recovered the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in southern Gaza where they were apparently killed not long before Israeli troops reached them, the military said.

The war was triggered after Hamas fighters on Oct. 7 stormed into southern Israel killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages by Israeli tallies.

Since then, at least 40,691 Palestinians have been killed and 94,060 injured in Gaza, the enclave's health ministry says.