Lebanon’s New Coronavirus Cases Down To 507 on Second Day of Lockdown

By Staff, Agencies

Lebanon confirmed 507 new coronavirus cases and two deaths Sunday, bringing the total number of cases registered so far to 12,087 on the country second day of partial lockdown.

Of the new cases, 500 were detected among the local population and seven among arriving travelers from abroad.

Although the figure appears slightly lower than in recent weeks, testing has also dropped in recent days – with 5,382 PCR tests administered in the last 24 hours. Last week, Lebanon at certain points was testing nearly double this figure.

Amid a deadly second-wave, more cases of coronavirus have been detected in August than in all other months combined since the virus first hit Lebanon in February.

As a result, Lebanon was forced to yet again enter a two-week nationwide lockdown Friday in an attempt to curb its spread.

A previous lockdown in early August was scrapped in the immediate aftermath of the Beirut blast. At least 300,000 people were made homeless as a result of the explosion, which led many to stay with friends or family, increasing the likelihood of community transmission.

Worryingly, as well as throwing coronavirus containment measures into disarray, the blast also significantly damaged the city’s already crippled health care infrastructure – deeply impacting the country’s capacity to treat patients.

The explosion wrecked 10 containers containing much-needed coronavirus PPE stored at the port and damaged a total of 17 hospitals, four of them severely. Facing a surge in cases and a damaged health care system, authorities have begun to warn that Lebanon may soon be overwhelmed.