Lebanon Records 1,594 New Coronavirus Cases, 15 More Deaths

By Staff, Agencies

Lebanon registered 15 coronavirus related deaths, and 1,594 new cases Monday, as caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan announced the most vulnerable group of Lebanese people would be vaccinated when the first shipment arrives early next year.

Hassan after a meeting with Lebanese President Michel Aoun Monday said that around 20 percent of Lebanese people living in the country would receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that would arrive by mid-February and that the vaccine would be distributed fairly, with those most vulnerable set to receive it for free.

Two million doses of the vaccine will be shipped, meaning 1 million people will be vaccinated as each person needs two doses.

Hassan also assured that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was effective against the new virus strain recently detected in the UK and which reached Lebanon last week.

Among the new cases reported Monday, 47 were travelers arriving from abroad, bringing the total number of cases in Lebanon since the virus was first detected in the country in late February to 172,820. The total number of deaths now stands at 1,409.

A total of 10,040 PCR tests have been administered in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate of the tests in the last two weeks stood at 13.6 percent.

The Health Ministry said that 420 patients were in the ICU and 140 on mechanical ventilation.

The Tourism Ministry Monday announced that it had issued 831 fines and ordered 56 establishments to shut down for violating coronavirus prevention guidelines in recent months.

The ministry called on restaurants, cafes, bars, clubs and event planners to pay attention to the seriousness of the public health reality and to the fact that the number of asymptomatic people infected by the virus has increased.

The Tourism Ministry also called on them adhere to the firmest measures of coronavirus prevention.

According to the guidelines of the Interior Ministry, restaurants, clubs and cafes can only operate at a maximum of 50 percent capacity.

However, during this holiday season, multiple establishments have failed to adhere to these measures and a number of social events have been held.