Lebanon now has a total of 304 coronavirus cases. The Ministry of Public Health confirmed the number in its daily COVID-19 report, released on Tuesday afternoon.
In the report, the Health Ministry stated: “Until March 24th, 2020, the total of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases at Rafik Hariri University Hospital, accredited university hospital laboratories, as well as private laboratories has reached 304 after 37 cases were recorded since yesterday.”
The report also revealed that 47 cases were received from laboratories not approved by the ministry.
Considering that 4 deaths and 8 recoveries have been recorded in total so far, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Lebanon is 292 as of Tuesday.
According to the Health Ministry’s latest data, 7 patients remain in quarantine and 4 cases are considered critical out of the total cases.
Meanwhile, the ministry says it is following up on all the cases that were diagnosed in non-reference laboratories in order to confirm them.
The ministry had previously explained why these cases need to be rechecked: During the investigation of some cases, it was found that they were re-examined in other private laboratories and the result was negative.
In the daily report, the Ministry of Public Health provided instructions for people who get positive COVID-19 test results in non-accredited laboratories but feel no symptoms of the disease.
When this happens, the person should commit to “complete domestic quarantine pending the confirmation or denial of the diagnosis.”
As it does with every issue of the daily report, the Health Ministry continues to stress the importance of self-isolation.
It insists that all citizens should adhere to the “implementation of all preventive measures, especially the commitment to complete domestic isolation, which has become an individual and societal moral responsibility that is incumbent on every citizen.”
It also warns that any negligence in the application of these measures “will expose the violator to legal and criminal prosecution.”
In its latest COVID-19 report, the National Operation Room for Disaster Management revealed that Lebanon’s security forces had written 351 citations between 6 AM and 12 PM on Monday, March 23rd.
These were targeted at individuals and institutions who had violated the government’s general mobilization decisions, which aim to prevent Lebanon from slipping into a worse stage of the coronavirus pandemic.
Yesterday, March 23rd, the total of COVID-19 cases in Lebanon was 267 after the Health Ministry recorded 8 new cases, and the National Operation Room for Disaster Management reported 11 later during the day.
Facing all that, some people in Lebanon still think that the coronavirus outbreak is not their problem. Nothing can be farther from the truth. It is everyone’s problem and containing its spread is everyone’s responsibility.
