About three days ago, the first Coronavirus case in Lebanon was confirmed.
A plane coming from Iran, a country which is now witnessing a developing number of infections, arrived in Lebanon on Thursday, February 20th, carrying a 45-year-old patient.
On Monday, another Iranian plane arrived in Beirut’s airport and, although authorities have declared it Coronavirus-free, many think that this is no time to take such risks.
The Health Minister assures that this is no time to panic, and indeed, he’s right. There’s no need for the people to panic if they are taking the necessary precautions, like wearing face masks, sterilizing their hands, and all the other instructions of the World Health Organization regarding this virus.
There’s no time like the present for the Lebanese government to step up their precautions a notch too, and this is not only a personal opinion.
In fact, the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Gebresus stressed on Monday 24 February, that the world should do more to contain the outbreak of the new Coronavirus.
He explained that this extra prevention is for the purpose of preparing for a potentially global epidemic. Now, it’s important to focus on that the organization does not consider that the virus has reached the stage of a global pandemic.
However, countries of the world, according to WHO Director-General Adhanom, “must do everything possible to prepare for a possible global pandemic” since the number of victims has exceeded 2600 worldwide.
Again, WHO did not officially declare the outbreak of the Coronavirus as being a pandemic, though fears are rising with a spike of cases in Iran, Italy, and South Korea. Noting that a pandemic is an uncontrolled worldwide spread of a new disease.
WHO refusal of declaring the virus a pandemic brings hope that the spread can still be contained. It also shows that the organization trusts that the world’s countries are willing to take the necessary extra precautions in order to achieve this control.
The Lebanese authorities, apart from receiving two Iranian planes and a plane from Italy, are otherwise putting efforts into responsibly handling this phenomenon recently apparent in Lebanon with one case.
Extra measures are reportedly being implemented across the country, and some bans have been imposed, like flights to three affected countries, and the export of protective equipment.
Lebanese hospitals are also making sure they are prepared and ready to fight this any potential uprising. Hopefully, this would be the peak of the virus spread, and hopefully, it will become history soon. Stay extra safe, everybody.
We have a dedicated coronavirus section where you can find the latest news/updates about the pandemic in Lebanon, inform yourself with WHO-verified resources, and track the number of cases in Lebanon in real-time. Click here.
