Coronavirus cases are ebbing and flowing in the Middle East, where governments are cranking up lockdown measures in some places, and loosening them in others. Here’s a roundup of the Covid-19 situation across the region.
Iran records highest daily virus death toll
Long considered the epicenter of the virus in the Middle East, Iran continues to see a relentless rise in Covid cases, after only a weeks-long respite at the beginning of the summer.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei says the country is going through its third wave of the pandemic.
On Monday, the country’s daily death toll hit a record high for the second consecutive day, with 440 people dead. Iran has had 620,491 confirmed cases and 35,298 deaths from the virus in total.
Iran is the country worst hit by the pandemic in the region. Neighboring Iraq has the second-highest number of cases with nearly half a million confirmed infections and just under 11,000 total deaths.
Saudi Arabia receives first foreign pilgrims in seven months
For Saudi Arabia, which has the third-highest number of confirmed cases in the region, the virus has shown some signs of abating. Daily increases have dropped significantly since mid-summer, when it hit a record high of nearly 5,000 daily cases in June. So far in November, it has a daily tally of less than 400.
As part of a series of measures to loosen the kingdom’s rigorous social distancing restrictions, the Muslim holy sites have received their first foreign Umrah pilgrims in seven months.
Umrah is an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca that can be undertaken at any time of the year, unlike the Hajj, which has specific dates. It is also much smaller than the Hajj.
The Umrah is being performed according to strict social distancing guidelines, with a greatly reduced number of pilgrims permitted at the sites and with mandated distances between them.
Pilgrims typically pray shoulder to shoulder as large crowds circumambulate the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest shrine, but the new measures have created striking images of pilgrims’ coordinated movements and distances from one another.
Lebanon and Jordan: Cases surge
After initially seeing low occurrences of the virus, Lebanon and Jordan have been tackling a dramatic surge in cases.
On Sunday, Jordan recorded 3,259 new cases and 37 deaths, after the country hit a record number of cases last week. In Lebanon, which has a considerably smaller population than Jordan, the daily tally last week nearly hit 2,000, as more and more hospitals become overwhelmed.
Both countries have announced new measures to curb Covid-19, tightening curfews and forcing more facilities to close. Lebanon has imposed new lockdowns on over 100 towns and villages across the country in an effort to contain the virus.
Jordan and Lebanon had some of the strictest and most proactive lockdowns in the region during the first wave of the pandemic but their economies suffered greatly. Because of the toll on people’s livelihoods, social distancing measures have met with significant resistance during the second wave.
Israel administers first dose of vaccine
In Israel, a strict lockdown appears to have paid off. Israel hit a record daily tally of over 11,300 cases in late September, prompting strict social distancing measures. The daily count has dropped dramatically since; Israel recorded 521 daily cases on Sunday.
On Sunday, Israel administered the first dose of its Covid vaccine as part of its first phase of clinical trials. The first dose was given to 26-year-old volunteer Segev Harel, who will be monitored for three weeks for side effects and antibodies.
A total of 80 volunteers will be given either a vaccine or a placebo during the Phase 1 trials. Phase 2 trials, involving 960 volunteers, are set to begin in December.
