Lebanon Registers Record 73 Coronavirus Deaths, 3,505 New Cases

By Staff, Agencies

Lebanon registered Tuesday record 73 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours as well as 3,505 cases, as the country geared up to start its vaccination campaign next month.

The cases were detected among 18,665 PCR tests, a Health Ministry report said. The positivity rate of the tests in the last two weeks stood at 22.2 percent.

Among the newly recorded cases, only 14 were detected among travelers arriving in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry report, with the total number of cases since the virus was detected in the country in late February rising to 285,754.

The Health Ministry said 2,407 patients were in hospital for COVID-19, with 937 in ICUs and 312 on ventilators.

Lebanon witnessed a surge in daily virus deaths last week with the highest ever daily death tally at 67 Thursday. The overall number of coronavirus-related deaths since February stands at 2,477.

As cases remained high and hospitals are still struggling to face the virus, authorities extended a total lockdown until February 8 in a bid to curb the spread of the virus and relieve the health care sector.

The country had also shown fatigue from a total lockdown, with demonstrators closing down roads in many areas including Beirut and clashing with security forces in northern Lebanon in recent days to protest the strict measures.

The head of the government's emergency health committee, Dr. Abdul-Rahman Bizri, said the inoculation campaign was still on course to begin by mid-February, vowing to vaccinate the entire population, including Palestinian refugees and displaced Syrians, within 8-12 months.

Lebanon has so far ordered 6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, enough for 3 million individuals, taking into account that each patient requires two doses of the vaccine.

A first shipment of 50,000 Pfizer-BioNTech jabs is scheduled to arrive on February 8.