10 Coronavirus Cases in Lebanon after 3 More Confirmed

Lebanon on Sunday confirmed three new coronavirus cases, raising the overall tally to ten.

“Three new lab-verified cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 have been recorded,” the Health Ministry said in a statement.

“They are individuals who had arrived aboard planes coming from Iran and had been in home quarantine. When the showed the symptoms of the disease, they were transferred to the quarantine ward at the Rafik Hariri hospital,” the Ministry added.

“When their PCR tests confirmed their infections, they were moved to quarantined rooms in the hospital, raising the tally of those infected to ten,” it said.

It once again urged all those coming from countries witnessing major coronavirus outbreaks to “fully abide by home isolation measures and to immediately call the number 76592699 upon the manifestation of any symptoms.”

The majority of those infected in Lebanon had visited Iran in recent weeks.

Lebanese authorities have ordered the closure of all educational institutions and nurseries until March 9 and have banned citizens of China, Iran, Italy and South Korea from visiting Lebanon unless they have residency permits.

Religious visits to Iran and Iraq have meanwhile been halted but Lebanese authorities have said that Lebanese citizens in the most affected countries will be allowed to return home.

Planes coming from virus-hit countries are being inspected by a specialized Health Ministry team and fever detectors have been installed at the airport.