An aerial picture taken on March 7, 2020, shows a view of Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut. (Credit: Patrick Baz/AFP)
BEIRUT — The Ministry of Public Works and Transport announced on Wednesday new measures for passengers arriving at Beirut international airport starting Jan. 1, 2022, in response to the worrying spread of COVID-19 in the country and the emergence in many countries around the world of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Here’s what we know:
• In a statement, the ministry said that passengers arriving in Beirut are required to register on the electronic platform designed by the Health Ministry in order to allow travelers to enter data needed and obtain a health pass to be able to board any plane coming to Lebanon.
• Travelers over 12 years of age will be asked to submit to the platform a negative result of a PCR test carried out 96 hours prior to their arrival in Lebanon in order to receive a QR code by message, which will be scanned on arrival at Beirut airport. People who do not present a health pass granted by the ministry will not be allowed to board the plane to Beirut.
• People arriving in Lebanon, except children under 12 and members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), will also be asked to pay an amount of $30 online via the ministry's platform so that they can perform a PCR test upon arrival at the Beirut airport. Passengers arriving in Beirut will be asked to confine themselves for 24 hours until they receive a negative PCR test result.
• However, people who have been fully vaccinated for more than two weeks or who have contracted COVID-19 in the three months prior to their trip are exempt from performing a PCR test before traveling and upon arrival in Lebanon. Such people should present documents proving this via the Health Ministry’s platform. People who have left Lebanon and want to return there within one week at the latest are only required to perform a PCR test on their arrival at the airport.