First shipment of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine arrives in Libya's Tripoli
A box containing some of 100,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against the Covid-19 is placed in a refrigerated truck upon its arrival at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in La Guaira, Venezuela, on March 29, 2021.
Tripoli,
The Libyan Minister of Health Ali Zanati on Sunday announced that a shipment of 101,250 dozes of Russia's Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, provided by the United Arab Emirates, arrived in Libyan capital Tripoli.
Experts supervised the distribution of the vaccine to special medicine cooling stores across the country at -18 degrees celsius, Zanati told a press conference in Tripoli, confirming that a vaccination campaign will begin soon and that he will be the first to receive the vaccine.
He said that the country is expecting about one million doses of the vaccine on April 11, and the total number of vaccine Libya expects to receive is five million.
Priority for vaccination will be for medical staff treating COVID-19 patients inside isolation units, followed by the elderly, those with chronic diseases, and then medical workers in different hospitals and medical centers, the minister added.
According to Libya's National Center for Disease Control, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Libya so far is 162,294, including 149,238 recoveries and 2,737 fatalities.
