Lebanon Coronavirus Cases Surge, Health Minister Urges Being Careful Ahead of Holiday Season

By Staff, Agencies

Lebanon registered 11 new coronavirus-related deaths and 2,056 cases Wednesday, as caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan warned that people had to be vigilant in the holiday season.

“Until yesterday, the total lockdown yielded positive results as the local [positivity] rate of the tests was 10 percent Tuesday, but after 10 days of relaxing lockdown measures, cases started to increase, which requires us to be careful during the next two weeks of holiday festivities,” Hassan said in a tweet.

Among the newly recorded cases, 48 were from travelers arriving in Lebanon, bringing the total number of cases since February 21 to 150,933. The total number of deaths now stands at 1,234.

The Health Ministry said 1,001 patients were hospitalized, with 409 in ICU units and 151 on mechanical ventilation.

A total of 15,463 PCR tests have been administered in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate of the tests in the last two weeks stood at 12.3 percent.

The Interior Ministry Sunday decided ahead of holiday celebrations to allow social gatherings and ceremonies in both open-air and closed spaces, but requiring that only 50 percent and 25 percent respectively of the space be used and the number of attendees not exceed 100.

However, health care experts fear that a surge in cases is inevitable during the holiday season.