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Egypt Approves One-Dose Sputnik Light COVID-19 Vaccine for Use

An awareness campaign in Aswan to encourage people to get the vaccine (Egyptian Health Ministry spokesperson’s Facebook page) m
An awareness campaign in Aswan to encourage people to get the vaccine (Egyptian Health Ministry spokesperson’s Facebook page) m
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Egypt Approves One-Dose Sputnik Light COVID-19 Vaccine for Use

An awareness campaign in Aswan to encourage people to get the vaccine (Egyptian Health Ministry spokesperson’s Facebook page) m
An awareness campaign in Aswan to encourage people to get the vaccine (Egyptian Health Ministry spokesperson’s Facebook page) m

Egypt has authorized Russia’s single-dose Sputnik Light vaccine against COVID-19, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which markets the shot abroad, said on Friday.

The country approved Russia’s two-dose Sputnik V vaccine in February.

Egyptian health authorities are also closely following the fourth COVID-19 wave to curb its spread across the country.

Dr. Mohamed Awad Taj El-Din, the adviser to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi for Health Affairs, said the state has gained experience in addressing the pandemic during the past three waves, noting that the fourth wave has not reached its peak yet.

In statements on Thursday, Taj El-Din pointed out that the European Union highly appreciates the state’s efforts to confront the virus and provide vaccines for its citizens, stressing the importance of adhering to preventive measures.

According to the Health Ministry, COVID cases are on the rise with 299,710 infections reported, 17,074 deaths and 252,471 recoveries.

In this regard, Minister of Health and Population Hala Zayed thanked the Greek government for supporting Egypt's fight against the pandemic.

During her meeting with the Greek ambassador to Cairo, Nikolaos Garilidis, on Thursday, she thanked him for the 250,000 AstraZeneca doses that Greece sent to Egypt earlier this week.

She also highlighted the strong bilateral ties between the two countries.

Garilidis, for his part, stressed the importance of cooperation and the exchange of experience with Egypt, especially regarding its response to the pandemic.

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Cyprus Says Syria Will Take Back Citizens Trying to Reach the Mediterranean Island by Boat

Migrants stand behind a fence inside a refugee camp in Kokkinotrimithia outside of capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. (AP)
Migrants stand behind a fence inside a refugee camp in Kokkinotrimithia outside of capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. (AP)
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Cyprus Says Syria Will Take Back Citizens Trying to Reach the Mediterranean Island by Boat

Migrants stand behind a fence inside a refugee camp in Kokkinotrimithia outside of capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. (AP)
Migrants stand behind a fence inside a refugee camp in Kokkinotrimithia outside of capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. (AP)

Syria has agreed to take back any of its citizens intercepted trying to reach Cyprus by boat, the Mediterranean island nation's deputy minister for migration said Monday.

Nicholas Ioannides says two inflatable boats, each carrying 30 Syrians, were already turned back in recent days in line with a bilateral search and rescue agreement that Cyprus and Syria now have in place.

Officials didn't share further details about the agreement.

Cypriot navy and police patrol boats intercepted the two vessels on May 9th and 10th after they put out a call for help. They were outside Cypriot territorial waters but within the island's search and rescue area of responsibility, a government statement said. They were subsequently escorted back to a port in the Syrian city of Tartus.

Ioannides told private TV station Antenna there’s been an uptick of boatloads of migrants trying to reach Cyprus from Syria, unlike in recent years when vessels would primarily depart from Lebanon. Cyprus and Lebanon have a long-standing agreement to send back migrants.

He said Cypriot authorities and their Syrian counterparts are trying to fight back against human traffickers who are supplying an underground market for laborers.

According to Ioannides, traffickers apparently cut deals with local employers to bring in Syrian laborers who pick up work right away, despite laws that prevent asylum-seekers from working before the completion of a nine-month residency period.

“The message we’re sending is that the Cyprus Republic won’t tolerate the abuse of the asylum system from people who aren’t eligible for either asylum or international protection and just come here only to work,” Ioannides said.

The bilateral agreement is compounded by the Cypriot government’s decision last week not to automatically grant asylum to Syrian migrants, but to examine their applications individually on merit and according to international and European laws.

From a total of 19,000 pending asylum applications, 13,000 have been filed by Syrian nationals, according to figures quoted by Ioannides.

Since Assad was toppled in December last year and a new transitional government took power, some 2,300 Syrians have either dropped their asylum claims or rescinded their international protection status, while 2,100 have already departed Cyprus for Syria.

Both the United Nations refugee agency and Europe’s top human rights body have urged the Cyprus government to stop pushing back migrants trying to reach the island by boat. Cyprus strongly denies it’s committing any pushbacks according to its definition.