A medic cares for a COVID-19 patient at Ragheb Harb University Hospital in Nabatieh. (Credit: Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)
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For a second day running, Lebanon registered a new record COVID-19 death tally, with 61 victims. While the numbers are already grim, health experts warned that Lebanon should prepare for a worse surge of hospitalizations and deaths in the coming weeks. Firass Abiad, the general manager of Rafik Hariri University Hospital, told L’Orient Today that the “number of hospitalizations, including critical patients, is expected to increase.” Nearly 800 patients were in ICUs at the country’s overwhelmed hospitals yesterday.
Amid the growing COVID-19 crisis, the president called for another emergency meeting of the Higher Defense Council on Thursday. On Jan. 11, the council approved strict lockdown measures, including a 24-hour curfew, set to expire next Monday. Health care professionals, including the head of the Order of Physicians, have called for extending the lockdown. MP Assem Araji, the head of Parliament’s health committee, said yesterday that the pandemic was “out of control” and that, according to global medical opinion, a lockdown needs to last three to six weeks to succeed.
Switzerland sent a dramatic request to Lebanese authorities requesting assistance in a money laundering investigation reportedly probing Banque du Liban Gov. Riad Salameh. The office of the Swiss attorney general confirmed to L’Orient Today in an emailed statement Tuesday that it had sent a request to Lebanon in the context of its investigation into “aggravated money laundering … in connection with possible embezzlement to the detriment” of the central bank. An unnamed Lebanese government official told Reuters that Swiss authorities were investigating money transfers allegedly made by Salameh, a statement echoed in reports by AFP and local daily Al-Akhbar, which broke the story. Salameh, for his part, dubbed allegations of impropriety as fake news.
Hassan Diab made a whirlwind tour of meetings with the country’s top leaders in a bid to boost the stalled formation of a new government. The caretaker premier, who resigned on Aug. 10, met separately in the afternoon with President Michel Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri. Following his sit-down with the president, Diab said he hopes there will be a meeting soon between Aoun and Hariri “at a time they find appropriate” to hash out the formation of a new cabinet. Diab’s visits were the latest initiative to restart meetings between the president and Hariri, who was nominated to form a government nearly three months ago.
Lebanon handed back to Greece two historic religious icons worth millions that were stolen from an exhibition in Athens in 2016. Judge Imad Kabalan, a prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, presented the 18th century artworks to Greece’s envoy to Lebanon after they were seized at an auction, the NNA reported Tuesday. The public prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into how the icons wound up in the country, the state-operated news agency said, adding that before their seizure, the icons were bound for another auction in Germany.