Head of the main hospital leading the fight against Coronavirus, Doctor Firas Abiad, said Wednesday that initiating an “efficient” vaccination campaign is the only “game changer” after Lebanon hit a record high number of deaths, noting that it would be “unsafe” to ease the lockdown.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Wednesday met Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi at theAal-Ittihadia Palace in Cairo, his media office said in a statement.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri will leave Wednesday for Cairo to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, media reports said on Tuesday.

The Free Patriotic Movement-led Strong Lebanon bloc said Tuesday that there is a “systematic campaign” to blame President Michel Aoun and the bloc for the new government’s delay, denying seeking a one-third-plus-one veto power.

The Lebanese Army on Tuesday raised the issue of Israel’s intensification of its violations against Lebanon’s sovereignty in recent weeks and the need for it to withdraw from Lebanese territory it is still occupying.

UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Stefano Del Col on Tuesday chaired the first Tripartite meeting of 2021 with senior officers from the Lebanese and Israeli armies at a U.N. position in Ras Al Naqoura.

The meeting was convened in a curtailed format due to the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.

MP Yassine Jaber of Speaker Nabih Berri’s Development and Liberation bloc on Tuesday urged President Michel Aoun to act in order to facilitate the formation of the new government.

“The Presidency is required to turn the Baabda Palace into a work cell in order to form a government,” Jaber said in an interview with al-Jadeed TV.

Lebanon’s anti-coronavirus ministerial committee will meet Thursday to evaluate the results of the full lockdown that has been in place since January 14, media reports said.

A Middle East Airlines plane carrying eight Lebanese released by the UAE landed Tuesday at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport, state-run National News Agency said.

TV footage showed emotional reunions between the returnees and their families at the airport.

Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab chaired a meeting on Tuesday of the inter-ministerial committee on the rationalization of subsidies of goods, the National News Agency reported.