Lebanon Reports 1,534 New Coronavirus Cases, 11 More Deaths

By Staff, Agencies

Lebanon registered 1,534 new coronavirus cases Sunday and 11 deaths as the country’s caretaker health minister urged continued vigilance amid concerns over the emergence of a COVID-19 variant in the United Kingdom.

Minister Hamad Hassan said that as the world was waiting for scientific evaluation of the new variant, "abiding by the preservation measures remains the only way to safety." He added that the recent developments would be discussed at a meeting between ministers and experts Monday.

The Interior Ministry, meanwhile, extended restrictions that were due to expire early Monday to 5 am Wednesday.

Among the newly recorded cases, 14 were travelers arriving in Lebanon, bringing the total number of cases since February 21 to 158,104. The total number of deaths now stands at 1,281.

The Health Ministry said 418 patients were in the ICU and 144 on mechanical ventilation.

A total of 12,205 PCR tests have been administered in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate of the tests in the last two weeks stood at 12.9 percent.