The number of Covid-19 cases in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region reached 19,489,547 on 26 April, according to Worldometers data collated by MEED.

Countries in the GCC account for 18.6 per cent (3,602,224) of all regional cases, while Iran’s 7,217,117 infections make up 37.3 per cent of the regional tally.

Vaccination rates across the Mena and Central Asia regions remain low and the prevalence of the Omicron strain is still a concern, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The WHO said the emergence of new, deadlier variants of Covid-19 remains possible. Across the East Mediterranean region, which spans 22 countries from Morocco to Pakistan, the vaccination rate is just 42 per cent.

“The pandemic remains a public health emergency of international concern. This is not yet the time to drop our guard,” Ahmed al-Mandhari, WHO's regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said in April.

“Even though deaths are decreasing to some of the lowest numbers since the start of the pandemic, transmission remains high, vaccination coverage remains low in several countries and the relaxation of public health and social measures is still being widely observed, allowing continued transmission and the risk of new variants emerging.”

Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia’s Food & Drug Authority has approved the use of the Moderna vaccine for children aged 6 to 11 years. The vaccine received approval for individuals aged over 18 years in July. Children aged 5-11 years in Saudi Arabia were given the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from December.

UAE
UAE schools have been allowed to resume activities and events, including field trips, for vaccinated and unvaccinated students and staff whose status on the Al-Hosn app is green. Mask-wearing is mandatory in closed spaces, including buses, on such trips. Parents may attend school events in line with precautionary measures such as mask-wearing and a green status on the Al-Hosn app.

Earlier this month, students in Abu Dhabi were allowed to return to in-class learning in the new term and present a negative PCR test taken within 96 hours prior to their first day of school. Students can be exempted from in-person attendance if they submit an attested report proving their ‘high-risk’ health status or present symptoms of Covid-19.

Bahrain
Bahrain’s Ministry of Health has started to roll out the Valneva vaccine for citizens and residents aged 18 years and above. Individuals who have not been vaccinated yet are eligible for Valneva’s two-dose regime. The vaccine can also be provided as a booster shot for people who have previously received Covid vaccines by Sinopharm, Pfizer-BioNTech, Covishield/Oxford-Astrazeneca and Valneva. Bahrain is the first country in the world to offer Valneva, which was authorised for emergency use by its National Health Regulatory Authority in March.

Iran
Deputy health minister Mohammad Mehdi Gooya has said Iran’s health ministry has not purchased any internationally made Covid vaccines since November 2021, and all its procurement contracts have been with domestic companies. Iran has imported almost 162 million doses of vaccines to combat Covid, with Sinopharm accounting for 82.3 per cent of imports (133.4 million), followed by Oxford-AstraZeneca (23.3 million) and Sputnik-V (4.9 million).

Croatia has donated 288,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to Tehran this month, and Bulgaria also delivered 2.83 million doses of the vaccine to the country earlier in April.

Egypt
Around 33.8 million people in Egypt have been fully vaccinated, according to the country’s acting health minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar. More than 44.6 million people have received the first dose of their vaccine, with the national vaccination campaign having achieved 54.8 per cent of its target in the 18 years and above group, and 48 per cent in children aged above 12 years.