Lebanon returns to lockdown as top minister tests positive
Lebanon entered a full lockdown on Thursday, a day after the caretaker Minister of Public Health, Hamad Hassan, was admitted to hospital after contracting Covid-19.
Saint George Hospital was positive about Mr Hassan’s condition. The hospital is one of two run by his political party, Iran-backed Hezbollah, in a suburb south of Beirut.
Mr Hassan said earlier that he was isolating and had taken a PCR test after three members of his office tested positive for infection.
He was criticised last week for attending a lunch with other officials in the eastern city of Baalbek.
More than 1,700 people in Lebanon have died from the disease since the pandemic began. The Health Ministry reported 4,998 new infections and 35 deaths on Wednesday.
The tally of cases passed 230,000 this week after a surge caused by end-of-year festivities. The country will remain in lockdown until the end of the month.
But the latest measures to the curb the spread of the virus have only been loosely respected in some parts of the country, after mass protests in recent years against a political elite held responsible for a deepening economic crisis.
The restrictions, imposed after some of the country’s hospitals started to run out of intensive care beds, include 24-hour curfews until January 25.
Non-essential businesses have been told to close and supermarkets are supposed to operate delivery services only.
In Beirut, roads were quieter than usual on Thursday morning, while many shops were shut.
But in areas of the city where there were no security troops, some people ventured out of their homes to buy groceries.
Social media users circulated a picture of a traffic jam at one of the entrances to the capital.