Lebanon Confirms 1,693 COVID Cases, As Health Experts Warn of Disaster after Holiday Season

By Staff, Agencies

Lebanon registered 17 new coronavirus-related deaths and 1,693 cases Tuesday, as health experts once again called on the Lebanese people to adhere to preventive measures during the holiday season to avoid a “disaster”.

Among the newly recorded cases, only five were from travelers arriving in Lebanon, bringing the total number of cases to 160,979. The total number of deaths now stands at 1,311.

A total of 16,629 PCR tests have been administered in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate of the tests in the last two weeks stood at 12.8 percent.

Head of the parliamentary Health Committee MP Assem Araji Tuesday warned that if people do not follow protective measures such as wearing a face mask, it would lead to disaster and hospitals will reach their full capacities.

Araji also said that people should avoid overcrowded celebrations in the next few days especially that the new variant of the virus spreads faster.

“A person infected with the regular coronavirus could infect three people, but if someone has the new variant of the virus, they can infect five to seven people,” Araji said after the committee’s meeting.

Meanwhile, head of Rafik Hariri University Hospital Dr. Firass Abiad told local media that 80 percent of ICU beds are now occupied.

According to the Health Ministry, 418 patients are in ICU and 141 on mechanical ventilation.

Both Araji and Abiad cited the tourism and the interior ministries’ responsibility to set stern measures during the holidays to avoid a surge in cases and to make sure the new strain of COVID-19 does not reach Lebanon.

Earlier in the day, Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab chaired a ministerial committee meeting that deliberated on coronavirus-related developments in light of the emergence of the new strain of the virus in Britain.

A statement said a number of measures were agreed to limit the transmission of the virus to Lebanon, mainly conducting a PCR test for all passengers arriving from the United Kingdom to Lebanon upon their arrival at Beirut International Airport.

It added that all passengers would be obligated to undergo a second PCR test  72 hours after entering the Lebanon.

“The Ministry of Health will provide the Ministry of the Interior with all information related to the addresses of arriving passengers so that the Interior Ministry can trace them, provided that positive cases are quarantined, upon issuance of results, in quarantine centers until an examination is carried out so as to determine the virus strain,” the statement said.