On its first day of the new lockdown, Lebanon recorded 5,196 new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, according to the Health Ministry’s daily report on the epidemic.
This is the highest number of cases recorded this week so far, and it brings up the total number of registered cases since the beginning of the outbreak in Lebanon to 237,132.
Active cases stand at 87,605, considering that 1,781 deaths and 147,746 recoveries have been registered in total so far.
In the past 24 hours, 41 people died from COVID-19, while 1,873 underwent full recovery. 24,764 PCR tests were administered in the same period, raising the total of tests to 2,307,989 since February 2020.
At 5 AM on Thursday, Lebanon officially entered its strictest lockdown in the past year, which includes a 24/7 curfew, with minor exceptions and the possibility for non-exempt citizens to request exceptional permission to go out for urgent matters.
Notably, caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hasan was confirmed on Wednesday night to have tested positive for the virus, shortly after he committed to self-quarantine after 3 members of his office were confirmed to have contracted the virus.
Hasan was admitted to Saint Georges Hospital, which announced that he was infected and in stable condition.
On the same day, the Health Ministry recorded 4,988 infection cases and 35 fatalities.
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