The Minister of Public Health Hamad Hassan announced that an incalculable development occurred in the past 48 hours concerning coronavirus and its spread in Lebanon.
Hassan confirmed in his visit to governmental hospitals in Northern Lebanon that within the past two days, new coronavirus cases have been found in Lebanon from countries that are not classified as epidemic.
Upon his visit to Al-Bouar Governmental Hospital, Hassan revealed that Lebanon has gone out of the containment stage of the coronavirus, pointing out that there is a spread of the virus, and that the ministry was informed of four new coronavirus cases of “unknown sources.”
“We should raise our degree of interference and our responsibility to a higher level,” he directed his speech to experts, saying: “This is not the time for fruitless controversy, it is the time to assume responsibilities.”
The health minister insisted on the necessary procedures of avoiding gatherings, as well as reducing contact and interactions in resorts, public institutions, and public meetings.
Lebanon had announced on Thursday that it had registered a new coronavirus case that was identified to be a citizen coming from Britain, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the country to 16 on Thursday.
However, after the announcement of the minister of health in regards to the 4 new cases from “unknown sources”, a most recent report just confirmed 6 new cases, according to LBCI; 5 of these 6 cases “were in contact with previous cases and work is underway to track the source of the sixth case.”
Information to LBCI: 6 new #Coronavirus cases registered today out of 110 who underwent tests, 5 of them were in contact with previous cases and work is underway to track the source of the sixth case | #Lebanon #Health
— LBCI Lebanon News EN (@LBCI_News_EN) March 6, 2020
Reuters have confirmed that, as of Friday, March 6th, the number of recorded coronavirus cases around the world has exceeded one hundred thousand cases, with 80,599 cases found in China alone.
However, even though 100,731 cases have been recorded -according to Wordometers (March 06, 2020, 16:12 GMT)- 55,997 have recovered and 3,412 have died. Other patients remain stable or critical in quarantine.
Until two days ago, the number of coronavirus cases in Lebanon was still considered containable as all cases recorded had known sources and were able to be linked to an already detected patient.
With six new coronavirus cases, this raises the level of cases from contained to spread, until the source of the sixth case is tracked.
To prevent further infections, gatherings held in common public places like nightclubs, sports, and scouts activities are suspended until the end of March or until further notice.
All gyms, cinemas, and theaters in Lebanon are also ordered to shut down due to coronavirus as a precautionary way to limit gatherings as much as possible at this stage.
Schools, conservatories, academies, and universities remain closed for the second week in an attempt to avoid crowded places.
You can watch the full press conference of the health minister’s announcement here:
