Lebanon Confirms 546 COVID-19 Cases, 10 Deaths

By Staff, Agencies

Lebanon confirmed 546 new coronavirus cases and 10 deaths Friday, as the country’s leading physician in the fight against the virus Dr. Firass Abiad warned that numbers were unlikely to decline without proper preventive measures.

Of the new cases, 540 were detected among the local population and six among travelers from abroad, raising the total number of registered cases to 22,983 since the virus was first detected in Lebanon on February 21.

Cases were detected among 10,270 PCR tests administered in the last 24 hours, bringing the positivity rate to 7.1 percent, according to the daily Health Ministry COVID-19 report.

“As universities and schools open, even in a hybrid format, there will be more contact in the community. The virus is still present, and adherence to preventive measures is selective and scant at best,” Abiad, who is the head of the Rafik Hariri University Hospital said in a series of tweets Friday.

Abiad further noted that Lebanon’s coronavirus cases had plateaued at around 500, with an average of five deaths being reported daily.

“The number of hospitalized patients is still increasing but has not reached full bed capacity. Business activity has resumed,” he said.

Lebanon’s coronavirus cases saw an alarming surge in August and consequently higher positivity rates, coinciding with the catastrophic Beirut Port explosion. Thousands of injuries from the blast further overwhelmed the already-strained health care system.

On August 26, Lebanon’s Higher Defense Council extended general mobilization regulations until the end of the year, following an alarming spike in COVID-19 cases over the last two months.