Lebanon Records 43 Coronavirus Deaths, A Year After Its First Case

By Staff, Agencies

Lebanon Sunday registered 43 new coronavirus-related deaths and 1,685 more cases, a year to the day since the country registered its first case of the disease.

The cases were detected among 13,197 tests, with only three cases recorded among travelers arriving from abroad. The positivity rate of the tests in the last two weeks stood at 18.3 percent.

The total number of cases since the virus was first detected in the country on Feb 21, 2020, rose to 355,056, according to the Health Ministry. The total number of fatalities stands at 4,340.

The Health Ministry said 2,206 patients were in hospital for COVID-19, with 935 in ICUs and 309 on ventilators.

Firass Abiad, the head of Beirut's Rafik Hariri University Hospital [RHUH], the main center for treating coronavirus patients, marked the grim one-year anniversary with a thread of tweets.

"One year ago, the laboratory called. A traveler with flu symptoms admitted to RHUH had just been diagnosed as the first #Covid19 case in Lebanon. Since then, the year has been a rollercoaster ride for all," he wrote.

"The year has been daunting, but RHUH always tried to do the right thing. It did well, though it was not easy to live up to public expectations. Perceptions can be deceiving, and a disheartened public can be quick to judge," he wrote, adding a tribute to health care workers.

The latest figures came on the eve of Lebanon entering the second phase of gradually easing restrictions imposed as part of a lockdown aimed to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

A governmental task force dealing with the pandemic said in statement that from Monday travel agents, car dealerships, mechanic shops, car washes and flower shops will be allowed to open during the day and on-site construction work can resume but engineering company offices are to remain closed.

Crucially, people are still obliged to get permission through an online platform to leave their homes. The new measures also increase capacity for factories and banks up to 50 percent of staff. Banks and other essential services were allowed to partially open two weeks ago.

Lebanon imposed a complete lockdown Jan. 14 after a dramatic rise in the numbers of coronavirus deaths and cases. With the pandemic easing off, the authorities plan to reopen the country in four two-week stages, culminating in lifting most restrictions March 22.

Lebanon began last week a national inoculation campaign, but the slow delivery of the vaccine – around 60,000 doses have so far been received – and logistical difficulties meant the target of vaccinating 80 percent of the 6 million population to achieve herd immunity is unlikely to be achieved this year.