The Chinese ambassador to Lebanon assured during a meeting with PM Hassan Diab on Thursday that no cases of the deadly coronavirus were recorded among Lebanese nationals in China, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.

“I have assured the PM that so far there are no cases of the virus among the Chinese community in Lebanon or among Lebanese nationals in China,” said Wang Kajian, the Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon.

Crisis-hit Lebanon received on Thursday a shipment of new banknotes received by the central bank, the National News Agency said.

The US administration “will not" provide any kind of assistance for Lebanon's new government led by PM Hassan Diab because it considers it an “extension” of Hizbullah’s authority, Nidaa al-Watan daily reported on Thursday.

Around two billion dollars were transferred abroad from crisis-hit Lebanon between October 17 and December 31, 2019, Nidaa al-Watan reported on Thursday.

Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti stressed Wednesday that no one can impose the naturalization of Palestinian or Syrian refugees on Lebanon, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his long-awaited Mideast peace plan, which does not entail the return of Palestinian refugees.

“The Arab Peace Initiative, which was unanimously endorsed at the Beirut Arab Summit in March 2002, represents a comprehensive and just approach to achieve permanent peace in the region,” Hitti said in a TV interview.

Anti-government protesters on Wednesday organized several rallies in the capital Beirut and the northern city of Tripoli.

In Beirut, protesters rallied outside the Swiss embassy near the Ring bridge to demand that Switzerland carry out “transparent investigations to unveil the stolen funds and freeze the assets of Lebanese politicians accused of smuggling their money to Switzerland, especially after October 17, 2019.”

The Lebanon Office of the World Health Organization announced Wednesday in a statement that there are "no Coronavirus cases in Lebanon," noting that the Ministry of Public Health is “closely monitoring the situation for the early detection of any Coronavirus infection, in line with the international health regulations of 2005."

"With the support of the WHO office in Lebanon, the Ministry of Public Health is exerting intensive efforts and working closely to increase preparedness and precautionary measures and to monitor the situation so as to reduce the risk of Coronavirus finding its way into the country, knowing that this global issue is rapidly developing," the statement said.

Mount Lebanon Examining Magistrate Bassam al-Hajj on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for the controversial activist Rabih al-Zein on charges of “incitement.”

The arrest warrant was issued after al-Zein was interrogated for two hours at the Baabda justice palace.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea announced Wednesday that the October 17 popular uprising has “managed to achieve several objectives” and was not exclusively targeted at toppling Saad Hariri’s government.

“It is not as some has tried to depict it as being targeted against the premier in person; it is rather targeted against the entire system,” Geagea tweeted.

Lebanese political parties, religious figures and officials denounced on Wednesday the US so-called Mideast peace plan unveiled Tuesday by US President Donald Trump, while Palestinian refugees in southern and northern camps expressed their rejection.