Lebanon has secured nearly 2 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, which will reach 20% of the country's citizens, Reuters reported referring to health minister Hamad Hasan. 

"We have reserved about 2 million doses of the vaccine and that will be enough for 20% of Lebanese living in the country," he said at the presidential palace on Monday.

Lebanese hospitals are under pressure as COVID-19 cases rise. Doctors warn that intensive care beds are overcrowded. The medical system was also hit by the financial crisis, which caused a supply shortage, and the August port bombing that damaged Beirut's main hospitals.

The COVID-19 outbreak has claimed the lives of nearly 1,400 people in Lebanon.

Hasan has earlier said the first case of a new, more contagious COVID-19 strain was also found in Lebanon.