Infant sick as Lebanon’s coronavirus cases surge to ‘new high’

Lebanon’s coronavirus outbreak has “reached a new high,” the head of the country’s main hospital treating the patients said on Sunday as army helicopters circled Beirut calling broadcasting calls for people to stay home.

Firass Abiad, the head of Lebanon’s Rafic Hariri University Hospital, said that new cases on Saturday included a 2-year old infant, “a pregnant patient who underwent a C-section and 6 transfers from other hospitals.”

On Saturday evening, Prime Minister Hassan Diab said that the number of cases had risen to 230 despite a call on March 15 for everyone to stay at home and on Friday the number of cases rose to 391 .

Cases have soared in the region of Jbeil, north of the capital. The army issued a statement last Sunday morning saying that it would increase patrols and that offenders could face up to 6 months in prison if caught on the streets without good reason.

Mr Abiad said that Rafic Hariri Hospital, which is the main hospital for coronavirus treatment, was currently functioning at 70 per cent occupancy rate and was testing up to 200 people a day.

He announced that the hospital would increase bed capacity by 50 per cent and double testing capacity by March 31.

Officials fear that Lebanon could run out of ventilators if cases increase dramatically.

On Friday, Health Minister Hamad Hassan attempted to reassure the public by saying that there were 1,185 ventilators in the country of around 4.5 million people. “We need around 500 to 600 at the current stage,” he said.

Months before the pandemic struck Lebanon, the local health sector was already suffering from the country’s worst economic crisis in its history and struggling hospitals were finding it hard to import medical equipment.

THE NATIONAL

Here is an update on Coronavirus cases and deaths around the world as reported by Worldometers.com

Confirmed Cases and Deaths by Country, Territory, or Conveyance

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 199 countries and territories around the world and 1 international conveyance (the Diamond Princess cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan). The day is reset after midnight GMT+0.

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Country, Other	Total Cases	New Cases	Total Deaths	New Deaths	Total Recovered	Active Cases	Serious, Critical	Tot Cases/ 1M pop	Tot Deaths/ 1M pop
USA	101,159	+15,724	1,559	+264	2,465	97,135	2,463	306	5
Italy	86,498	+5,909	9,134	+919	10,950	66,414	3,732	1,431	151
China	81,340		3,292		74,588	3,460	1,034	57	2
Spain	64,285	+6,499	4,940	+575	9,357	49,988	4,165	1,375	106
Germany	50,871	+6,933	342	+75	6,658	43,871	23	607	4
France	32,964	+3,809	1,995	+299	5,700	25,269	3,787	505	31
Iran	32,332	+2,926	2,378	+144	11,133	18,821	2,893	385	28
UK	14,543	+2,885	759	+181	135	13,649	163	214	11
Switzerland	12,928	+1,117	231	+39	1,530	11,167	203	1,494	27
S. Korea	9,332	+91	139	+8	4,528	4,665	59	182	3
Netherlands	8,603	+1,172	546	+112	3	8,054	761	502	32
Austria	7,657	+748	58	+9	225	7,374	128	850	6
Belgium	7,284	+1,049	289	+69	858	6,137	690	628	25
Turkey	5,698	+2,069	92	+17	42	5,564	241	68	1
Canada	4,633	+590	53	+14	258	4,322	120	123	1
Portugal	4,268	+724	76	+16	43	4,149	71	419	7
Norway	3,755	+383	19	+5	6	3,730	70	693	4
Brazil	3,417	+432	92	+15	6	3,319	296	16	0.4
Australia	3,180	+130	13		170	2,997	23	125	0.5
Sweden	3,069	+229	105	+28	16	2,948	214	304	10
Israel	3,035	+342	12	+4	79	2,944	49	351	1
Czechia	2,279	+354	9		11	2,259	34	213	0.8
Malaysia	2,161	+130	26	+3	259	1,876	54	67	0.8
Ireland	2,121	+302	22	+3	5	2,094	47	430	4
Denmark	2,046	+169	52	+11	1	1,993	109	353	9
Chile	1,610	+304	5	+1	43	1,562	7	84	0.3
Luxembourg	1,605	+152	15	+6	40	1,550	25	2,564	24
Ecuador	1,595	+192	36	+2	3	1,556	58	90	2
Japan	1,468	+81	49	+2	372	1,047	56	12	0.4
Poland	1,389	+168	16		7	1,366	3	37	0.4
Pakistan	1,331	+130	10	+1	23	1,298	7	6	0.05
Romania	1,292	+263	26	+3	115	1,151	32	67	1
South Africa	1,170	+243	1	+1	31	1,138	7	20	0.02
Thailand	1,136	+91	5	+1	97	1,034	11	16	0.07
Saudi Arabia	1,104	+92	3		35	1,066	6	32	0.09
Indonesia	1,046	+153	87	+9	46	913		4	0.3
Finland	1,041	+83	7	+2	10	1,024	32	188	1
Russia	1,036	+196	4	+1	45	987	8	7	0.03
Greece	966	+74	28	+1	52	886	66	93	3
Iceland	890	+88	2		97	791	18	2,608	6
India	887	+160	20		73	794		0.6	0.01
Philippines	803	+96	54	+9	31	718	1	7	0.5
Singapore	732	+49	2		183	547	17	125	0.3
Diamond Princess	712		10		597	105	15
Panama	674		9		2	663	20	156	2
Peru	635	+55	9		16	610	14	19	0.3
Slovenia	632	+70	9	+3	10	613	14	304	4
Argentina	589		13	+1	72	504		13	0.3
Croatia	586	+91	3		37	546	14	143	0.7
Mexico	585	+110	8	+2	4	573	1	5	0.06
Dominican Republic	581	+93	20	+10	3	558		54	2
Estonia	575	+37	1		11	563	7	433	0.8
Qatar	562	+13			43	519	6	195
Colombia	539	+48	6		10	523		11	0.1
Egypt	536	+41	30	+6	116	390		5	0.3
Serbia	528	+71	8	+1	42	478	25	60	0.9
Hong Kong	518	+64	4		111	403	5	69	0.5
Bahrain	466	+8	4		227	235	1	274	2
Iraq	458	+76	40	+4	122	296		11	1.0
Algeria	409	+42	26	+1	29	354		9	0.6
UAE	405	+72	2		52	351	2	41	0.2
Lebanon	391	+23	8	+2	27	356	3	57	1
New Zealand	368				37	331	1	76
Lithuania	358	+59	5	+1	1	352	2	132	2
Morocco	345	+70	23	+12	11	311	1	9	0.6
Armenia	329	+39	1		28	300	6	111	0.3
Ukraine	310	+114	5		5	300		7	0.1
Hungary	300	+39	10		34	256	6	31	1
Bulgaria	293	+29	3		9	281	8	42	0.4
Latvia	280	+36			1	279		148
Slovakia	269	+43			2	267	1	49
Andorra	267	+43	3		1	263	11	3,456	39
Taiwan	267	+15	2		30	235		11	0.08
Costa Rica	263	+32	2		3	258	5	52	0.4
Uruguay	238					238	3	69
Jordan	235	+23	1	+1	18	216		23	0.10
Bosnia and Herzegovina	232	+41	4	+1	5	223	1	71	1
Tunisia	227	+30	6	+1	2	219	10	19	0.5
Kuwait	225	+17			57	168	11	53
San Marino	223	+15	21		4	198	12	6,572	619
North Macedonia	219	+18	3		3	213	1	105	1
Moldova	199	+22	2	+1	2	195	33	49	0.5
Albania	186	+12	8	+2	31	147	3	65	3
Burkina Faso	180	+28	9	+2	12	159		9	0.4
Azerbaijan	165	+43	3		15	147	6	16	0.3
Vietnam	163	+10			20	143	3	2
Cyprus	162	+16	5	+2	15	142	3	134	4
Kazakhstan	150	+37	1		3	146		8	0.05
Réunion	145	+10			1	144		162
Faeroe Islands	144	+4			54	90	2	2,947
Malta	139	+5			2	137	1	315
Ghana	137	+5	4		2	131	1	4	0.1
Oman	131	+22			23	108		26
Senegal	119	+14			11	108		7
Brunei	115	+1			11	104	1	263
Afghanistan	110	+16	4		2	104		3	0.1
Venezuela	107		1		31	75	2	4	0.04
Sri Lanka	106				7	99	5	5
Ivory Coast	101	+5			3	98		4
Cambodia	99	+1			11	88	1	6
Mauritius	94	+13	2			92	1	74	2
Belarus	94	+8			32	62	2	10
Cameroon	91	+16	2	+1	2	87		3	0.08
Palestine	91	+5	1		17	73		18	0.2
Channel Islands	88	+22	1			87		506	6
Uzbekistan	88	+13	1	+1	5	82	8	3	0.03
Georgia	83	+4			14	69	1	21
Montenegro	82	+13	1			81	1	131	2
Martinique	81		1			80	12	216	3
Cuba	80	+13	2		4	74	2	7	0.2
Guadeloupe	73		1			72	4	182	2
Nigeria	70	+5	1		3	66		0.3	0.00
Honduras	68	+1	1			67		7	0.1
Trinidad and Tobago	66	+1	2	+1	1	63		47	1
Bolivia	61					61		5
Kyrgyzstan	58	+14				58		9
Liechtenstein	56					56		1,469
Gibraltar	55	+20			14	41		1,632
Rwanda	54	+4				54		4
Paraguay	52	+11	3		1	48	1	7	0.4
DRC	51		3		2	46		0.6	0.03
Mayotte	50	+14				50		183
Bangladesh	48	+4	5		11	32	1	0.3	0.03
Monaco	42	+9			1	41		1,070
Macao	34	+1			10	24		52
Kenya	31		1		1	29	2	0.6	0.02
French Polynesia	30					30		107
Isle of Man	29	+3				29		341
Guatemala	28	+3	1		4	23	1	2	0.06
Aruba	28				1	27		262
French Guiana	28				6	22		94
Jamaica	26		1		2	23		9	0.3
Madagascar	26	+3				26		0.9
Togo	25	+1			1	24		3
Barbados	24					24		84
Uganda	23	+9				23		0.5
Zambia	22	+6				22		1
Bermuda	17	+2			2	15		273
Ethiopia	16	+4				16		0.1
Maldives	16	+3			9	7		30
New Caledonia	15	+1				15		53
El Salvador	13					13		2
Tanzania	13				1	12		0.2
Djibouti	12	+1				12		12
Equatorial Guinea	12					12		9
Dominica	11					11		153
Mali	11	+7				11		0.5
Mongolia	11					11		3
Saint Martin	11					11		284
Niger	10		1			9		0.4	0.04
Greenland	10	+4			2	8		176
Bahamas	9				1	8		23
Eswatini	9	+3				9		8
Cayman Islands	8		1			7		122	15
Curaçao	8	+1	1		2	5		49	6
Guinea	8	+4				8		0.6
Haiti	8					8		0.7
Myanmar	8	+3				8		0.1
Namibia	8				2	6		3
Suriname	8					8		14
Gabon	7		1			6		3	0.4
Antigua and Barbuda	7					7		71
Grenada	7					7		62
Mozambique	7					7		0.2
Seychelles	7					7		71
Benin	6					6		0.5
Eritrea	6					6		2
Laos	6					6		0.8
Cabo Verde	5		1			4		9	2
Guyana	5		1			4		6	1
Zimbabwe	5	+2	1			4		0.3	0.07
Fiji	5					5		6
Montserrat	5					5		1,002
St. Barth	5	+2				5		506
Syria	5					5		0.3
Nepal	4	+1			1	3		0.1
Angola	4					4		0.1
Congo	4					4		0.7
Vatican City	4					4		4,994
Gambia	3		1			2		1	0.4
Sudan	3		1			2		0.07	0.02
Bhutan	3	+1				3		4
CAR	3					3		0.6
Chad	3					3		0.2
Liberia	3					3		0.6
Mauritania	3					3		0.6
Saint Lucia	3				1	2		16
Sint Maarten	3					3		70
Somalia	3	+1				3		0.2
Nicaragua	2		1	+1		1		0.3	0.2
Anguilla	2					2		133
Belize	2					2		5
British Virgin Islands	2					2		66
Guinea-Bissau	2					2		1
Saint Kitts and Nevis	2					2		38
Turks and Caicos	2					2		52
Libya	1					1		0.1
Papua New Guinea	1					1		0.1
St. Vincent Grenadines	1					1		9
Timor-Leste	1					1		0.8
Total:	591,280	59,415	26,979	2,906	132,520	431,781	22,086	75.9	3.5