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The COVID-19 surge continues to challenge Lebanon’s overwhelmed hospitals, with ICU hospitalizations climbing to 930 yesterday while another 54 people fell victim to the virus. On the twelfth day of the lockdown, which has been extended until Feb. 8, hospital officials told L’Orient Today they were operating at or near capacity as they scrambled to provide treatment to patients in ERs. Firass Abiad, the head of Rafik Hariri University Hospital, warned Monday morning that despite “good compliance, there is scant evidence that the spread is decreasing,” while ICU capacity was at an alarming 94.4 percent.

Amid the grim pandemic, sporadic protests escalated Monday in Tripoli against deteriorating living conditions exacerbated by the strict lockdown. Forty-one were wounded in Lebanon’s second city, with 12 requiring hospitalization, the Red Cross said after an evening of clashes. Demonstrators in Al-Nour Square — an iconic protest site from the Oct. 17, 2019, uprising — squared off against security forces, who fired rubber bullets and tear gas at the crowd, according to the NNA. Demonstrations were also held throughout the day in Saida, with residents holding a protest march at night in solidarity with demonstrators in Tripoli and to decry the state’s failure to provide aid during the lockdown. While the government has said it plans to give the most vulnerable families a one-time payment of LL400,000 — just $46 at the current market rate — it is not set to be disbursed until after the lockdown ends.

After its rollout was postponed a day, the Health Ministry is set to launch its official registration platform for the COVID-19 vaccine today. The caretaker health minister said that people registered on the platform will receive multiple messages throughout the vaccination rollout to verify their identity and inform them when to receive the inoculations. Registrants will be directed to one of 35 vaccination centers that will be established around the country, Hamad Hassan’s statement added. The outgoing minister also met with UNRWA to hammer out a vaccination plan for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Vaccines are set to begin arriving the first week of February; some 250,000 Pfizer doses are expected to arrive by the end of March.

The caretaker justice minister named politicians she believes are protecting the under-fire central bank governor. Marie-Claude Najm told Al-Hurra TV that the political class — including Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Premier-designate Saad Hariri, and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Joumblatt — were shielding Riad Salameh. She also said in her interview with the US-funded network that the Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah were not pushing for Salameh’s dismissal. One of the main architects of Lebanon’s failed financial system, the longtime central bank chief has become a lightning rod for criticism.

Salameh, meanwhile, kept up his denials yesterday of any wrongdoing amid a Swiss probe into alleged embezzlement of central bank funds. Banque du Liban’s governor claimed that figures circulating in news reports on alleged transfers being looked into by Switzerland were “highly inflated.” A source told Reuters on Monday that Switzerland wanted Lebanon to question Salameh, his brother, and an assistant regarding $350 million worth of transfers. On Jan. 19, Switzerland asked Lebanon for help in an inquiry into aggravated money laundering in connection with possible embezzlement to the detriment of the central bank.