As it entered a new lockdown on Thursday, Lebanon broke its record number of new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases.
4,774 cases were recorded in Lebanon on Thursday, the Health Ministry confirmed in its daily COVID-19 report. This is the third time in a row that Lebanon breaks its daily case record.
With that, Lebanon has also exceeded the 200,000-mark as the total number of cases rose to 204,699, of which 65,551 are active, as of the time of writing. The country has so far recorded 1,566 deaths and 137,582 recoveries in total.
It is to note that most hospitals that had been taking in infection cases since the outbreak began last year have reached their capacity limits.
This, coupled with the dangerous surge in cases, prompted caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hasan to request that private hospitals across the country allocate new beds, “because the situation is dangerous.”
In a statement he made on Thursday, Hasan said that the Ministry had also raised the readiness of governmental hospitals, noting that there was still no logistical readiness and that attempts to find a solution with private and public hospitals were ongoing.
Photo: REUTERS/Issam Abdallah
“We have to endure this dangerous stage and overcome it until the vaccine arrives in Lebanon.”
Lebanon, which went into a new, 3-week lockdown on Thursday, recently secured a deal to receive a shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, enough to vaccinate 20% of the Lebanese population.
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