Covid surge in Lebanon compounds the misery in a battered country

Covid surge in Lebanon compounds the misery in a battered country

BEIRUT — An alarming spike in covid-19 cases since the devastating explosion at Beirut's port is compounding Lebanon's misery at a time when the country was already laid low by overlapping financial, economic and political crises.Support our journalism. Subscribe today.arrow-rightSince 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate were ignited Aug. 4 by a still-unexplained blaze in a warehouse at the port, the total number of covid infections has more than doubled — to 12,191 as of Saturday — prompting the government to order a partial lockdown that went into effect on Friday. The jump has been attributed in part to the mass panic that gripped Beirut in the aftermath of the blast, which wrecked three Beirut neighborhoods adjoining the port and inflicted damage and injuries for miles beyond. Tens tens of thousands of