Ever since the first case of coronavirus was confirmed on February 21st, Lebanese people simply started to panic and much of their anger was directed at the health minister Hasan Hamad for his decision to allow flights to arrive from Iran, which had been infected with the virus.
On February 29th, three new cases of coronavirus were confirmed, which brings the count of people infected up to 7. The three patients are currently being quarantined at a Beirut hospital.
What is even more troubling is that the new patients had contracted the virus after contact with the patients who came from Iran.
This is bound to start up creating panic because these three cases were confirmed on the same day and they are the result of contact with the infected.
For many people, this could be seen as a sign that the virus has begun spreading in the country and that it is about to grow exponentially.
The mounting concerns have led the education minister to announce that schools and universities will be closed on March 2nd till March 8th so that they figure out how to keep the infection from spreading.
There is a possibility that schools will be closed for a longer time as the incubation period for the virus is actually 14 days.
But, of course, Lebanon’s citizens are blaming the Lebanese government for its role in the spread of the virus. The government had promised that they have been taking the proper measures at the airport in order to ensure that the virus does not reach Lebanon.
However, many people questioned why the government chose to allow flights from Iran despite the fact that over 200 people died from the virus there.
Other countries were quick to ban flights from Lebanon when the country announced its first case of coronavirus, like Bahrain, and furthermore now with Saudi Arabia refusing Lebanese people entrance.
But the health minister was willing to allow a flight from Iran, knowing that people were dying from the virus.
It’s intriguing how certain people in the government believe that our relationship with Iran is much more important than the health of the country’s citizens at the national level, and when Iran would not mind the ban that has become a global measure of protection.