Lebanon’s banks on Tuesday expressed readiness to cooperate with the government in order to reschedule the state’s debt, a media report said.

“But they called on the government to negotiate with the foreign firms,” LBCI TV reported.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday criticized what it described as “a major flaw in the measures that accompanied the arrival of the Iranian planes from the cities of Mashhad and Qom to Beirut,” amid the major outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus in Iran.

“The spread of the disease and the confirmation of new cases against which there had been warnings expose a major flaw in the measures that accompanied the arrival of the Iranian planes from the cities of Mashhad and Qom to Beirut from the very first day,” the bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.

Lebanon’s first coronavirus patient tested negative for the virus on Tuesday as lab tests conducted for all suspected cases over the past 24 hours also indicated that they are not infected, the Health Ministry said.

The Ministry added in a statement that the test will be repeated Wednesday for the country’s first patient and that she will be discharged from hospital should she anew test negative.

Lawmaker Assem Araji on Tuesday lauded the medical team efforts at the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, saying they are “the front medical defense line in the country,” against the coronavirus disease.

Lebanese protesters and several MPs staged a sit-in near the Swiss embassy in Beirut demanding the refund of capital flight transferred abroad after the October 17 uprising, as Lebanon grapples with a liquidity crisis unprecedented in its history.

They gathered in front of the embassy before meeting with Swiss Ambassador to Lebanon, Monika Schmutz Kirgِz, to deliver a petition they had signed to recover looted state funds.

The Lebanese Embassy in Rome called in a statement on all Lebanese nationals in Italy to exercise caution and follow the general precaution guidelines facing the widespread of COVID-19 disease, the National News Agency reported on Tuesday.

NNA said the embassy advised Lebanese residing in Italy to avoid travel to Lebanon at the present time "except when absolutely necessary," in order to avoid the transmission of the virus, which can be deadly to their families, especially the elderly, and those with low immunity.

Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat on Tuesday said Lebanon must shut down all crossings into the country to prevent further spread of the coronavirus disease.

Lebanon on Monday barred a Syrian bus from entering the country after suspecting that a girl on it is infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus, as an Iranian plane carrying 178 passengers landed at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport.

“After the medical team at the al-Qaa border crossing suspected that an infected girl was on the bus which was carrying 30 passengers, the decision was taken to return the bus to Syria,” the National News Agency said.

The U.N.'s envoy to war-plagued Libya, Ghassan Salame, announced his resignation on Monday citing health reasons, nearly three years after taking up the post.

"I tried to unite Libyans and restrain foreign interference... but for health reasons I can no longer continue with this level of stress and therefore I have asked the (U.N.) secretary-general to relieve me of my duties," Salame tweeted.

Lebanon’s coronavirus infections rose to thirteen on Monday after three new cases were confirmed.

The Health Ministry said the three individuals had been in home quarantine after having come in contact with an infected person who had been diagnosed earlier.