“The Palestinian health ministry has approved the main Russian vaccine against Covid-19, known as Sputnik V, for domestic use, making it "the first country in the Middle East" to do so, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund said on Monday.

In a statement, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) confirmed that the Palestinians had registered for the vaccine “under the emergency use authorisation procedure without additional clinical trials in the country”, following the footsteps of local regulators in Algeria, Argentina, Bolivia and Serbia.”