Lebanon’s caretaker health minister has called for a two-week lockdown after a resurgence of Covid-19 in the wake of the devastating explosion in Beirut on 4 August.

“We declare today a state of general alert and we need a brave decision to close [the country],” Hamad Hassan told Voice of Lebanon radio.

Hassan separately told the newspaper Annahar that the two weeks would allow medics to focus on treating the more than 6,000 people injured by the blast and free up beds at Beirut’s hospitals, many of which were severely damaged.

On Sunday, the health ministry reported 439 new coronavirus infections and six deaths. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, meanwhile, confirmed that four people with Covid-19 had died at camps in Lebanon and warned that “things may get out of control”.

In other developments in the Middle East:
• Authorities in Jordan sealed off the northern town of Ramtha, which is close to the border with Syria, following a spike in new Covid-19 cases
• Iraq barred foreign tourists from entering the country to help limit the spread of coronavirus ahead of the Shia Muslim religious rituals of Ashura, which start at the end of August. Millions of people traditionally gather at shrines and mosques in the city of Karbala and elsewhere.

Copyright: Reuters