Dubai will start vaccinating people with the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 shot, the state media office said on Tuesday as the United Arab Emirates battles its biggest outbreak since the pandemic begun.
The first shipment has arrived from India, the media office said in a tweet. It did not say how many doses were received or when inoculations would start.
A source aware of the vaccine shipments said 200,000 doses had been shipped on Tuesday under a commercial agreement between Dubai authorities and the Serum Institute of India (SII).
SII, which is supplying the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, had no immediate comment.
India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar tweeted: "Made in India vaccines reach Dubai. A special friend, a special relationship."
Dubai is already inoculating residents, free of charge, with the Pfizer-BioNTech and China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) vaccines.
The National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority reported 3,310 new cases on Tuesday, down from a peak of 3,966 on Jan. 28.
Dubai to start vaccinations with Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine
https://arab.news/5r9s3
Dubai to start vaccinations with Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine
Syrian government regains control of Euphrates Dam
- The Euphrates Dam plays a central role in Syria’s water and energy supply
DAMASCUS: Syrian government forces on Sunday took back control of the Euphrates Dam, one of the country’s most critical pieces of infrastructure, ending years of administration by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.
Management of the dam’s water and hydroelectric facilities has now been handed over to government technicians and specialist staff, officials said, marking a significant shift in control of a strategic site in northeastern Syria.
The Euphrates Dam plays a central role in Syria’s water and energy supply.
Its hydroelectric power station, located on the dam’s right bank, contains eight generating units, each with a capacity of 110 megawatts, supplying electricity to large parts of the region.
The dam also holds Lake Al-Tabqa, also known as Euphrates Lake, which stretches around 80 kilometers in length and up to eight kilometers in width, covering an area of approximately 640 square kilometers.
At full capacity, the reservoir can store up to 14.1 billion cubic meters of water, making it a key source of drinking water, irrigation and power generation.
Officials at Syria’s Ministry of Energy said the return of the dam to government control secures a strategic location and restores essential services to millions of people, underlining its importance to water resource management and the country’s electricity network.
