Libya Distributes Coronavirus Vaccines to All Centers

150,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine arrived at Mitiga International Airport. (AFP)
150,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine arrived at Mitiga International Airport. (AFP)
TT

Libya Distributes Coronavirus Vaccines to All Centers

150,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine arrived at Mitiga International Airport. (AFP)
150,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine arrived at Mitiga International Airport. (AFP)

The Libyan authorities have ordered the distribution of coronavirus vaccines to all vaccination centers to kick off the inoculation campaign across the country.

Health Minister Ali Al-Zanati gave the green light for the vaccination after the Food and Drugs Administration okayed the use of the Sputnik V and AstraZeneca vaccines.

He added that the priority would be for health workers, people with chronic health problems and the elderly, renewing his call on Libyans to register on the assigned website for vaccination.

The Libyan Health Ministry on Wednesday received 150,000 doses of the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine Sinovac as a donation from Turkey.

Libya has received 400,000 doses of vaccines so far, according to the Libyan Government.

Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh said earlier that the vaccines are approved by the World Health Organization and "there is no need to listen to rumors about them."

Dbeibeh further stressed the importance of the vaccine in order to restore normal life.

According to the Libyan National Center, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Libya so far is 170,045, including 155,000 recoveries and 2,834 fatalities.

Head of the Libyan National Center for Disease Control Badr Al-Deen Al-Najjar discussed with Health Representative of the International Organization for Migration Office in Libya Dr. Al-Aref Hussein the health conditions of undocumented migrants.

Najjar praised the organization’s efforts to support the health programs and the national vaccination campaign against the coronavirus.

Dbeibeh launched the campaign at the beginning of the week, and he received his first shot.



Women and Children Scavenge for Food in Gaza, UN Official Says

 Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
TT

Women and Children Scavenge for Food in Gaza, UN Official Says

 Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)

Large groups of women and children are scavenging for food among mounds of trash in parts of the Gaza Strip, a UN official said on Friday following a visit to the Palestinian enclave.

Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights office for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, expressed concern about the levels of hunger, even in areas of central Gaza where aid agencies have teams on the ground.

"I was particularly alarmed by the prevalence of hunger," Sunghay told a Geneva press briefing via video link from Jordan. "Acquiring basic necessities has become a daily, dreadful struggle for survival."

Sunghay said the UN had been unable to take any aid to northern Gaza, where he said an estimated 70,000 people remain following "repeated impediments or rejections of humanitarian convoys by the Israeli authorities".

Sunghay visited camps for people recently displaced from parts of northern Gaza. They were living in horrendous conditions with severe food shortages and poor sanitation, he said.

"It is so obvious that massive humanitarian aid needs to come in – and it is not. It is so important the Israeli authorities make this happen," he said. He did not specify the last time UN agencies had sent aid to northern Gaza.

US WARNING

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin set out steps last month for Israel to carry out in 30 days to address the situation in Gaza, warning that failure to do so may have consequences on US military aid to Israel.

The State Department said on Nov. 12 that President Joe Biden's administration had concluded that Israel was not currently impeding assistance to Gaza and therefore was not violating US law.

The Israeli army, which began its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the group's attack on southern Israeli communities in October 2023, said its operating in northern Gaza since Oct. 5 were trying to prevent militants regrouping and waging attacks from those areas.

Israel's government body that oversees aid, Cogat, says it facilitates the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and accuses UN agencies of not distributing it efficiently.

Looting has also depleted aid supplies within the Gaza Strip, with nearly 100 food aid trucks raided on Nov. 16.

"The women I met had all either lost family members, were separated from their families, had relatives buried under rubble, or were themselves injured or sick," Sunghay said of his stay in the Gaza Strip.

"Breaking down in front of me, they desperately pleaded for a ceasefire."