Lebanon Confirms 1,257 New Coronavirus Cases, Six More Deaths

By Staff, Agencies

Lebanon confirmed 1,257 new coronavirus cases and six more deaths Wednesday, bringing the total number of registered cases in the country to 39,620.

Only 12 of the new cases were detected from people traveling into Lebanon from abroad.

There are currently 21,702 active coronavirus cases in the country, of which 167 cases are in critical condition, according to a Health Ministry report.

The positivity rate among the 12,008 tests carried out on the local population over the past 24 hours was 10.4 percent. There has been a total of 367 deaths due to coronavirus complications since the illness was first detected Feb. 21.

Lebanon has witnessed an unrelenting surge in locally transmitted COVID-19 cases. Local test positivity in September currently stands at 8.5 percent. It was 7.19 percent in August and 2.1 percent in July.

Rising hospitalizations and ICU admissions are also a growing concern for the authorities. There were 178 people in intensive care Monday - up 183 percent since the start of the month and 556 percent since the start of August, when just 32 people were occupying ICU beds.