Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad on Nov. 19, 2021. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
BEIRUT – Health Minister Firass Abiad announced Tuesday that "preventive measures against the coronavirus will be eased," as the number of daily cases has "started to decrease," after reaching alarming records following the holiday season.
Here’s what we know:
• At the end of a meeting of the national commission responsible for monitoring COVID-19 cases held at the Grand Serail, the health minister indicated that "the number of cases of coronavirus has started to decrease, which allows us to lighten the preventive measures.” He did not specify which preventative measures will be loosened.
• "The increase in the rate of participation in the vaccination campaign is slowing down [the spread of the virus]… the pandemic is not over and new variants will appear, we must remain cautious and respect preventive measures," Abiad said. He also presented graphs from the ministry showing that 67 percent of people infected in the past two weeks were not vaccinated.
• Abiad’s comments come following a stabilization in the number of coronavirus cases following the holiday period at the end of last year, during which cases exceeded 10,000 per day. The situation in hospitals is also starting to improve, after the occupancy rate of beds reached alarming figures, in a country whose health system suffers from shortages of medicine and medical equipment.
• Lebanese authorities had imposed several restrictive measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus, such as the required presentation of a vaccination certificate in various enclosed public spaces and workplaces, which were not always applied in practice.