Lebanon orders three-week lockdown to fight virus spread

Lebanon orders three-week lockdown to fight virus spread

Lebanon orders three-week lockdown to fight virus spread

Lebanon orders three-week lockdown to fight virus spread

People wait to get tested for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at Rafik Hariri University Hospital, in Beirut, Lebanon January 4, 2021. Picture taken January 4, 2021. (Reuters)

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Lebanon orders three-week lockdown to fight virus spread

Updated 04 January 2021

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BEIRUT: Lebanon announced a full lockdown for three weeks, including a night curfew, to stem a rise in COVID-19 infections that threatens to overwhelm hospitals in a country already facing financial meltdown.

Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hasan said the lockdown would start on Thursday and run until Feb. 1, with further details on Tuesday on which sectors would be exempt.

The lockdown will include a curfew from 6 p.m. to 5 am.

"It has become clear that the pandemic challenge has reached a stage that is seriously threatening Lebanese lives as hospitals are not capable of providing beds,“ Hasan told reporters after a meeting of the ministerial committee on COVID-19.

Lebanon registered 2,870 new infections on Sunday, bringing its total to 189,278 cases and 1,486 deaths since Feb. 21.

The new lockdown comes amid concerns over soaring unemployment, inflation and poverty.

Lebanon is facing a devastating financial crisis that has crashed the currency, paralyzed