Libya Increases Random Testing to Combat COVID-19

Libyans wearing protective face masks queue in front of a bank in the center of the capital Tripoli amid the coronavirus pandemic. (File photo: AFP)
Libyans wearing protective face masks queue in front of a bank in the center of the capital Tripoli amid the coronavirus pandemic. (File photo: AFP)
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Libya Increases Random Testing to Combat COVID-19

Libyans wearing protective face masks queue in front of a bank in the center of the capital Tripoli amid the coronavirus pandemic. (File photo: AFP)
Libyans wearing protective face masks queue in front of a bank in the center of the capital Tripoli amid the coronavirus pandemic. (File photo: AFP)

Libyan medical authorities have increased random COVID-19 testing and sample collection, hoping it will help curb the spread of the virus, mainly in the capital which has the highest rate of infections.

The number of coronavirus cases is increasing rapidly in Libya, compared to the number of tests conducted daily, at a time when dozens of citizens refuse to declare their positive results, according to medical sources.

The National Center for Disease Control announced Wednesday that 13 of its laboratories had received 2,815 testing samples from over 33 cities and municipalities around the country.

It indicated that 529 samples came back positive, 270 of which are located in Tripoli.

The country’s total number of coronavirus reached 75,465, including 28,285 active cases, while 46,127 recovered and 1,053 died, announced the Center.

It explained that laboratories received fewer numbers of testing samples, resulting in the drop of cases during the past 24 hours, pointing out that occasional power outages in some cities also affect the number of samples tested.

The Center posted a video showing Tripoli municipality conducting random testing and taking swabs from citizens, as part of its campaign to detect virus outbreak.

Head of campaign, Atallah Soleiman Gharibeh, said in a press statement that the campaign is working all the time to spread awareness among citizens on the need to adhere to the precautions.

Meanwhile, Zliten Medical Center, to the west of Libya, stated Tuesday that it had opened another isolation center after the first one became full, as the cases continue to rise in the area.

In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) spokesman in Libya, Ahmad Saad, announced the arrival of a shipment of personal protective equipment, medicines for chronic diseases, and an oxygen ventilator to al-Qubbah Hospital, in eastern Libya.

The Benghazi Medical Center launched a campaign for seasonal influenza vaccination targeting the most vulnerable groups, along with medical teams and assisting teams who are in direct contact with patients, namely those infected with COVID-19.



Israeli Fire Kills 30 in Gaza, Medics Say, as Attention Shifts to Iran 

Palestinians carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that had been heading to Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that had been heading to Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP)
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Israeli Fire Kills 30 in Gaza, Medics Say, as Attention Shifts to Iran 

Palestinians carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that had been heading to Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that had been heading to Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP)

Israeli gunfire and strikes killed at least 30 people across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, local health authorities said, as some Palestinians there said their plight was being forgotten as attention shifted to the air war between Israel and Iran.

The deaths included the latest in near daily killings of Palestinians seeking aid in the three weeks since Israel partially lifted a total blockade on Gaza that it had imposed for almost three months.

Medics said separate airstrikes on homes in the Maghazi refugee camp and Zeitoun neighborhood in central and northern Gaza killed at least 14 people, while five others were killed in an airstrike on a tent encampment in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Eleven others were killed in Israeli fire at crowds of displaced Palestinians awaiting aid trucks brought in by the United Nations along the Salahuddin road in central Gaza, medics said.

The Israel army said it was looking into the reported deaths of people waiting for food. Regarding the other strikes, it said it was "operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities" and "feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm."

On Tuesday, Gaza's health ministry said 397 Palestinians among those trying to get food aid had been killed and more than 3,000 wounded since aid deliveries restarted in late May.

Some in Gaza expressed concern that the latest escalations in the war between Israel and Hamas that began in October 2023 would be overlooked as the focus moved to Israel's five-day-old conflict with Iran.

"People are being slaughtered in Gaza, day and night, but attention has shifted to the Iran-Israel war. There is little news about Gaza these days," said Adel, a resident of Gaza City.

"Whoever doesn't die from Israeli bombs dies from hunger. People risk their lives every day to get food, and they also get killed and their blood smears the sacks of flour they thought they had won," he told Reuters via a chat app.

'FORGOTTEN'

Israel has been channeling much of the aid it is now allowing into Gaza through a new US- and Israeli-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates a handful of distribution sites in areas guarded by Israeli forces.

It has said it will continue to allow aid into Gaza, home to more than 2 million people, while ensuring aid doesn't get into the hands of Hamas. Hamas denies seizing aid, saying Israel uses hunger as a weapon against the population in Gaza.

The Gaza war was triggered when Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli allies.

US ally Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, displaced almost all the territory's residents, and caused a severe hunger crisis.

The assault has led to accusations of genocide and war crimes, which Israel denies.

Palestinians in Gaza have been closely following Israel's air war with Iran, long a major supporter of Hamas.

"We are maybe happy to see Israel suffer from Iranian rockets, but at the end of the day, one more day in this war costs the lives of tens of innocent people," said 47-year-old Shaban Abed, a father of five from northern Gaza.

"We just hope that a comprehensive solution could be reached to end the war in Gaza, too. We are being forgotten," he said.