The number of Covid-19 cases in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region reached 15,157,659 on 12 December according to Worldometers data collated by MEED.

Countries in the GCC account for 16.8 per cent (2,534,484) of all regional cases, while Iran’s 6,152,524 infections make up 40.8 per cent of the 15 million-tally.

Since 6 December, 74,396 new cases have been reported in the 17 Mena countries tracked by MEED. The number is 16.63 per cent lower than the 89,231 new infections reported in the week to 6 December.

The weekly growth rate of new cases in most countries has slowed over the past week. In Libya, the rate of case growth slowed from 0.75 per cent to 0.66 per cent, and in Syria reduced from 1.36 per cent to 1.17 per cent.

In Egypt and Lebanon, the case growth rate dropped to 1.42 per cent (6 December: 1.81 per cent) and 1.43 per cent (6 December: 1.6 per cent).

Despite a slowing in its weekly new case rate from 3.46 per cent to 3.09 per cent, the number of infections in Jordan breached one million last week as the country battles a third coronavirus wave.

Saudi Arabia
Covid-related deaths in Saudi Arabia have decreased compared to the beginning of the pandemic, assistant deputy minister of health for preventive health, Abdullah Asiri, said on 11 December, adding that vaccine rollouts have made this possible in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia detected its first case of the Omicron variant earlier this month in a citizen travelling back from a North African country.

UAE
Abu Dhabi has established a global distribution corridor with Belgium to serve global vaccine delivery and future life science needs. Agreements were signed between the Hope Consortium, Abu Dhabi Airports Company, Brussels Airport Company and Pharma Aero to establish an air corridor between the Abu Dhabi and Brussels airports. The UAE detected its first case of the Omicron variant in an individual travelling into the country.

Bahrain
France-headquartered Valneva has signed an advance purchase agreement with Bahrain for the supply of one million doses of its inactivated Covid-19 vaccine candidate VLA2001. This is the second purchase agreement Valneva has secured for VLA2001 since reporting positive data for its phase three clinical trial Cov-Compare, and the company has initiated a rolling submission process with the Bahraini National Health Regulatory Authority. Bahrain reported its first Omicron variant case on 11 December.

Kuwait
Kuwait's National Aviation Services has partnered with Health Key Technologies to provide passengers with digital access to an additional 1,800 Covid-19 testing locations around the world that allows them to choose labs or locations nearest to their city of departure to complete mandatory pre-flight tests. Kuwait confirmed its first case of the Omicron variant on 8 December in a traveller arriving from an African country.

Oman
The sultanate recorded zero deaths for a one-month period as of 11 December. Thirty-two deaths were reported in September, and 15 and two respectively in October and November. Health ministry data indicates a recovery rate of 98.5 per cent over the past month, local media reported. 

Iran
Iran has issued ‘smart protocols’ that include restrictions on unvaccinated individuals as it aims for its citizens to ‘co-exist’ with the coronavirus. The fifth wave of Covid-19 has been contained in Iran but the health ministry has expressed concerns about another sharp increase in infections.

Participation in activities in indoor public spaces and the use of public transport will be contingent on obtaining a digital vaccine pass issued by the health ministry to those who have been fully vaccinated. Activities including attending school, going to the cinema and travelling on aeroplanes or buses to other provinces will require a digital pass, and residents who are classed as unvaccinated will still be able to engage in indoor activities if they provide a valid negative PCR test. Unvaccinated or infected individuals attempting to enter cities that are classified as “red” or “orange” in a weekly updated colour-coded map denoting the severity of outbreaks will face fines, according to media reports.

Egypt
Egypt received a shipment comprising 1,273,600 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca doses from Spain through the Covax alliance. The shipment is part of a 4.4 million dose donation announced by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during his official visit to Egypt in December.

Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar, spokesperson for Egypt’s health ministry, said earlier this month Cairo is working on a multi-stage plan to combat the Omicron strain of Covid-19. Phase one includes a study for the mutation through genetic scanning, followed by accordingly adjusting procedures linked to entry from ports. The final phase will include increase vaccination rates and increasing precautionary measures as required.

Jordan
Five senior health officials have been sentenced to three years in jail by a Jordanian court for causing the death of 10 Covid-19 patients following an oxygen outage in a state hospital in March. The patients were being treated in the Salt city hospital when staff failed to act after the Covid-19 hospital ran out of oxygen for nearly an hour.

News of the sentence comes as Jordan reimposes PCR tests for all arrivals into the kingdom amid a third coronavirus wave that has sharply raised the number of infections in the country, where two cases of the Omicron variant were reported over the weekend. Passengers arriving by air, land and sea must show a negative PCR test result taken 72 hours before arrival to be allowed into the country, with no exceptions to be made for vaccinated individuals.

Lebanon
The Lebanese health ministry said on 9 December it had confirmed the country’s first two cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19. The cases were detected in passengers upon arrival at the airport from a country in the African continent.

The government has also decided to impose fines of 250,000 Lebanese pounds on unvaccinated individuals who spread Covid-19 through a new law ratified by the country’s parliamentarians last week. The penalty charge sees an increase on the previous fee of 50,000 Lebanese pounds imposed on people who had not been jabbed but had passed on the virus.

Morocco
International flights to and from Morocco have been cancelled until the end of this year, according to a Moroccan Civil Aviation Authority decision cited by Royal Air Maroc. The flag carrier said the decision took effect from 9 December until the end of 31 December.

Tunisia
Potential borders closures are being studied to prevent another wave of Covid-19 from overburdening the country’s national healthcare infrastructure as happened this July. Tunisia reported its first confirmed case of the Omicron variant earlier this month in a Congolese man who arrived from Istanbul.

Lead image: Quinten Braem / Unsplash