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Egypt Reports First 3 Cases of Omicron

An employee sprays disinfectant as a precautionary measure amid the coronavirus disease pandemic in front of Egyptian national flag at the State Council headquarters in Giza, Egypt October 19, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
An employee sprays disinfectant as a precautionary measure amid the coronavirus disease pandemic in front of Egyptian national flag at the State Council headquarters in Giza, Egypt October 19, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
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Egypt Reports First 3 Cases of Omicron

An employee sprays disinfectant as a precautionary measure amid the coronavirus disease pandemic in front of Egyptian national flag at the State Council headquarters in Giza, Egypt October 19, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
An employee sprays disinfectant as a precautionary measure amid the coronavirus disease pandemic in front of Egyptian national flag at the State Council headquarters in Giza, Egypt October 19, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

Egypt reported its first three cases of the new coronavirus variant Omicron, the Health Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

"Two cases are not showing any symptoms, while the third suffers mild symptoms," the Ministry said.

Last month, Egypt suspended direct flights from and to southern Africa after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new Covid-19 variant to be "of concern."

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry said that 901 new coronavirus cases were detected in the past 24 hours, upping the total number of confirmed infections in Egypt since the beginning of the outbreak to 372,599.

In a statement, spokesman for the Health Ministry Hossam Abdel Ghafar said 31 patients have died from the virus over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 21,234.

As many as 695 patients were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care, taking the number of recovered cases to 310,049, the spokesman said.

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Lebanon Hopes for Neighborly Relations in First Message to New Syria Government

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeting with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeting with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
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Lebanon Hopes for Neighborly Relations in First Message to New Syria Government

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeting with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeting with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)

Lebanon said on Thursday it was looking forward to having the best neighborly relations with Syria, in its first official message to the new administration in Damascus.

Lebanese caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib passed the message to his Syrian counterpart, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, in a phone call, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry said on X.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah played a major part propping up Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad through years of war, before bringing its fighters back to Lebanon over the last year to fight in a bruising war with Israel - a redeployment which weakened Syrian government lines.

Under Assad, Hezbollah used Syria to bring in weapons and other military equipment from Iran, through Iraq and Syria and into Lebanon. But on Dec. 6, anti-Assad fighters seized the border with Iraq and cut off that route, and two days later, opposition factions captured the capital Damascus.

Syria's new de-facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is seeking to establish relations with Arab and Western leaders after toppling Assad.