Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan on Friday chaired a meeting for the ministry’s staff that discussed “the executive course of the national vaccination plan,” the National News Agency said.

“During the meeting, measures were approved to avoid the flaws that were recorded over the past period and to follow up on some violations at a number of vaccination centers,” NNA said.

France's top diplomat wielded the threat of more sanctions in Beirut Friday to prevent what he described as a "collective suicide" organised by members of Lebanon's ruling political class.

The head of the National Committee for the Administration of COVID-19 Vaccine in Lebanon, Abdul Rahman al-Bizri, indicated that 7 percent of the population has been inoculated in Lebanon until this moment, and considered as “shameful” that the campaign gets paused during the holidays.

Bizri said that specialists are working today on medications to fight coronavirus. Trials and experiments are in the second stage, he noted.

French foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian emphasized that recent sanctions on Lebanese leaders are only the beginning of a long list of tough sanctions ahead, the National News Agency reported on Friday.

An MP in the French parliament, Gandal Royard, said in remarks to al-Arabiya television station on Friday, that people in crisis-hit Lebanon are getting poorer because the political class is escaping punishment.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri met the visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian at the Pine Residence in Beirut on Thursday evening, Hariri’s press office announced in a statement.

There were no clear reports whether Le Drian, who met President Michel Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri earlier in the day, intended to meet Hariri.

President Michel Aoun stressed during talks with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Thursday the need for the formation of a credible government that garners the parliament’s confidence, saying that no efforts will be spared to that end.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian held high-level meetings in Beirut on Thursday aimed at ratcheting up the pressure on Lebanon's leaders to break its political paralysis.

As Lebanon prepares to stop subsidies on the import of basic goods, concerns emerge about its repercussions on security in a country grappling with an unprecedented economic and financial crisis and a sharp depreciation of its local currency, media reports said on Thursday.

A “prominent” security source told MTV television station that Lebanon is going to face a big challenge, “not at the level of terrorism, but at the level of social protection and social security this time.”

Lebanon’s Financial Prosecutor Judge Ali Ibrahim on Wednesday issued an order detaining the two Turkish power ships Fatmagül Sultan and Orhan Bey in connection with a suspected violation of the contract signed with the Lebanese state.

“Attorney General Judge Ghassan al-Khoury has informed the relevant ministries -- finance; public works and transport; and energy and water -- as well as the Electricite du Liban company and the Internal Security Forces, General Security, the Customs administration and the army’s Intelligence Directorate of… Ibrahim’s decision to detain the ships and prevent them from leaving Lebanon,” the National News Agency said.