The Daily Star —  BEIRUT: Lebanon registered 1,636 new coronavirus cases and 16 deaths Wednesday, as caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hasan said that the ministry was aiming to equally distribute a potential vaccine in a safe and secure manner to the population. Of the registered cases, 33 were found among incoming travelers from abroad, bringing the total number of registered cases in the country to 120,300. The Health Ministry reported that a total of 12,489 PCR tests had been administered in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate of the tests in the last two weeks stood at 14.7 percent.

An alarming 23 coronavirus-related deaths had been recorded Tuesday, bringing the total number of deaths since the virus was first detected in late February to 950. Meanwhile the Internal Security Forces Wednesday said that 578 coronavirus cases were detected at the Roumieh Prison and 28 cases at the Baabda Justice Palace detention center, with a smaller number of cases detected in other prisons around the country. Hasan said after a meeting with the national committee responsible for the COVID-19 vaccine that they are working on guaranteeing an equal distribution of the vaccine, as well as monitoring the side effects of the vaccine when it reaches Lebanon. The caretaker health minister had announced that Lebanon would receive COVID-19 shipments from Pfizer – one of the lead developers of the vaccine – by March.