CAIRO, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Turkey saw its COVID-19 cases over 2.37 million on Friday, but with a lower daily increase. Meanwhile, the Lebanese parliament passed on Friday a law that will allow the emergency use of vaccines against COVID-19.

Turkey reported 8,314 new coronavirus cases and 169 more fatalities from the deadly disease, pushing its tally of infections to 2,373,115 and its death toll to 23,664. The total number of recoveries in Turkey climbed to 2,246,047.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday he did not see any side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine that he received the previous day.

Speaking to the reporters after Friday prayers in Istanbul, Erdogan noted that he is so far feeling good and will take the second dose of the vaccine 28 days later.

After receiving the jab at a hospital in the capital Ankara, Erdogan called on all political party leaders and lawmakers to encourage people to get vaccinated.

On Thursday, Turkey started its mass vaccination program with the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Chinese company Sinovac. The country has so far vaccinated 537,000 people.

It received the first batch of 3 million doses of vaccines from China at the end of last December.

Lebanon registered on Friday 6,154 new COVID-19 cases, the highest daily increase in the country, raising the tally to 243,286, the Health Ministry reported.

The death toll from the virus went up by 44 to 1,825, it added.

Lebanon passed on Friday a law that will allow the emergency use of vaccines against COVID-19.

House Speaker Nabih Berri said the new law allows medical companies and the private sector to import the vaccines for the fight against COVID-19.

Lebanon will buy 2 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine with the first shipment expected to arrive by mid-February.

Iran's health ministry reported 6,485 daily COVID-19 cases on Friday, raising the total nationwide infections to 1,318,295.

The pandemic has so far claimed 56,621 lives in Iran, up by 83 in the past 24 hours, said Sima Sadat Lari, the spokeswoman for Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, during her daily briefing.

A total of 1,107,011 people have recovered from the disease and been discharged from hospitals, while 4,415 remain in intensive care units, she added.

The Iraqi health ministry reported 805 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total nationwide infections to 606,991.

It also reported 10 new deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 12,932, and 1,530 more recovered cases, bringing the total recoveries to 565,889.

Meanwhile, Sayf al-Badr, health ministry's spokesman, said in a press release that he warns of rumors by reports of some local media about the spread of the new strain of coronavirus in some Iraqi provinces.

"We deny such reports and any news not issued by the relevant authorities about the coronavirus pandemic," al-Badr said. "If there are any positive or negative developments, the Ministry of Health and authorized persons are the only parties that have the right to give information."

Morocco on Friday reported 1,291 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally of infections in the country to 457,625.

The total number of recoveries from the disease hit 432,576 after 1,409 new ones were added, its health ministry said in a statement.

The death toll rose to 7,888 with 34 new fatalities during the last 24 hours, while 1,002 people are in intensive care units.

Kuwait's COVID-19 cases increased by 530 to 156,964 on the same day, while the death toll rose by one to 947.

The Kuwaiti Health Ministry also announced the recovery of 268 more patients, taking the total recoveries to 150,329.

The Qatari health ministry on Friday announced 196 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 146,885.

Meanwhile, 174 more recovered from the virus, bringing the overall recoveries to 143,435, while the fatalities remained 246, according to a ministry statement. Enditem

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