WHO: East med region ‘reaching critical point’ for coronavirus

The World Health Organization fears coronavirus case surges in Libya, Tunisia, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and Morocco.

By TARA KAVALER/THE MEDIA LINE
Newly elected Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland (photo credit: REUTERS)
Newly elected Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland
(photo credit: REUTERS)
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the total number of COVID-19 cases in its Eastern Mediterranean Region is more than 11.4 million, with over 223,000 fatalities.
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“We are reaching a critical point for COVID-19 in our region,” Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said in a press statement released midweek. “Countries are reintroducing or strengthening social and travel restrictions, but at this stage, increasing complacency by communities means that the virus is winning in the region.”
“It is not too late to turn the course of this pandemic, but it requires much more exerted global, regional and national efforts,” he added.
The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean does not include all Eastern Mediterranean nations and covers a number of African and Asian countries far from the Mediterranean Sea. Its members include Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
The WHO fears a surge in cases in Libya, Tunisia, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and Morocco despite a general decrease in coronavirus infections over the last two months due to variants, large swaths of people going unvaccinated, and lax observance of safety protocols.
In Tunisia and Libya, for example, the percentage of the populations that have been inoculated for the vaccine is only 6% and 5.6%, respectively.
In Iraq, less than 1% of the population has received one dose. The country suffered a tragedy on July 13 when at least 92 people died in the COVID isolation ward of Nasiriyah's Al-Hussein Teaching Hospital.
Still, the WHO fears the coronavirus situation will worsen as a result of the weeklong Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, commencing on the evening of July 19.
According to the organization, Iran attributes its monthlong jump in new cases to nonobservance of social distancing measures during the March holiday of Nowuz, which marks the Iranian new year.
When it comes to variants, the elusive alpha and delta are two strains that have contributed to Morocco expanding the scope of its state of emergency order until August 10.
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told reporters on July 12 that over the course of a week, the number of coronavirus cases attributed to the delta variant increased from 284 to 750.
In other COVID-19 vaccination news, AFP reported that Amman would receive 500,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the US.
According to The National, 500,000 doses of an unnamed coronavirus vaccine arrived in Tunisia. The country’s oxygen and intensive care slots are at 90% and 95% capacity, respectively, according to the WHO.
Last Friday, Qatar dispatched a field hospital to Tunisia, along with 200 medics and 100 respirators, according to Doha News. Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi visited the hospital on July 13. It is planned to be installed in the Tunis suburb of Ben Arous.
This is the second time that Doha has sent a field hospital during the pandemic.
The WHO said that Tunisia had the worst COVID-19 death rate in all of Africa.
In Israel, Salman Zarka became Israel’s coronavirus “czar” July 14, replacing Prof. Nachman Ash, who is now the director-general of the Health Ministry.
Here are the latest COVID-19 numbers for the Middle East and North Africa as of 5 pm Greenwich Mean Time (UTC±0) on Thursday.

Country

Confirmed Cases

Deaths

Recovered

Active Cases

Afghanistan

139,051

6,072

86,219

46,760

Algeria

148,797

3,882

103,192

41,723

Bahrain

267,505

1,378

265,129

998

Cyprus

87,305

383

73,452

13,470

Djibouti

11,621

155

11,457

9

Egypt

283,409

16,418

220,530

46,461

Iran

3,464,055

86,592

3,086,017

291,446

Iraq

1,466,529

17,707

1,332,578

116,244

Israel

848,674

6,443

836,859

5,372

Jordan

759,686

9,872

742,065

7,749

Kuwait

380,699

2,158

360,746

17,795

Lebanon

548,972

7,881

534,768

6,323

Libya

214,568

3,249

182,359

28,960

Mauritania

22,049

499

20,470

1,080

Morocco

549,844

9,418

528,645

11,781

Oman

289,042

3,498

263,752

21,792

Pakistan

981,392

22,689

916,373

42,330

Palestinian Territories

315,409

3,585

310,239

1,585

Qatar

223,911

599

221,805

1,507

Saudi Arabia

506,125

8,035

486,918

11,172

Somalia

15,076

781

7,267

7,028

Sudan

36,986

2,774

30,756

3,456

Syria

25,806

1,901

21,896

2,009

Tunisia

518,609

16,845

413,155

88,609

Turkey

5,500,151

50,367

5,365,075

84,709

United Arab Emirates

656,354

1,885

634,272

20,197

Yemen

6,964

1,366

4,151

1,447

Total

18,268,589

286,432

17,060,145

922,012

Steven Ganot contributed to this report.


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