Lebanon Surpasses 70k COVID-19 Cases amid New Lockdowns

By Staff, Agencies

Lebanon surpassed 70,000 COVID-19 cases Sunday, as the Interior Ministry ordered 63 towns and villages to go under further lockdown in order to curb the spread of the virus.

The towns will enter into lockdown from Monday 6 a.m. until Nov. 2. A nationwide curfew remains in place from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m.

Lebanon recorded Sunday a total of 1,400 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths. All of the new cases were recorded among the local population, departing from a relatively high number of infections among arriving travelers over the past week.

A total of 565 people have now died from coronavirus complications in Lebanon since it was first detected in the country in late February.

A top government adviser warned Saturday that Lebanon is faced with a "tsunami" of critical COVID-19 cases and deaths.

“As the fall/winter season begins, we ask: how are we going to survive months of being indoors with a pandemic & flu” Petra Khoury, health adviser to Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, tweeted Saturday night.

“COVID & flu might turn into an oncoming Tsunami of critical care cases & deaths. During the upcoming flu season, we expect ~10-15 additional critical care cases per week suffering from pneumonia. Will our hospital capacity absorb?” she added.

According to a chart posted by Khoury, Lebanon has the second highest rate of intensive care admissions in the world. Lebanon is currently admitting 3.5 people per 100,000 into ICU, second only to Belgium, which admits 4.9 people per 100,000.

There are 285 ICU beds in the country, according to WHO Lebanon. All ICU beds in the Bekaa Valley are currently occupied, as well as 92.9 percent of ICU beds in the south and 90.5 percent in Mount Lebanon.