Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Another Explosion in Libya.. This Time it's Coronavirus


Fri 03 Jul 2020 | 10:00 AM
Yassmine Elsayed

Hours ago, Salah Ibrahim, spokesman for the Coronavirus Crisis Crisis Management Committee in Sebha, southern Libya, talked about a spike of infection cases due to novel coronavirus in the city, and the spread of the pandemic to the surrounding areas.

In an interview with Sputnik, Ibrahim said: "The situation has worsened in the city of Sebha, and the region in general is witnessing an increase in the number of cases with Covid-19 and the expansion of the pandemic in the city of Sebha and the surrounding areas."

He explained that the infections has counted for 402 cases in Sebha, with 16 fatalities so far, while the only 62 cases have recovered.

He added that the medical preparations in the city of Sebha are still low, despite the arrival of some equipment from the Libyan government in the east of the country, and the government of Al-Wefaq in the west, but that the "explosion" which occurred in the region was not expected, as was the speed of transmission.

The Libyan official explained that the rapid spread of the virus in the city is due to the lack of commitment of the citizens to the lockdown, as well as the deterioration of the economic situation in the city which force the people to go out and earn their livelihood.

"What threatens the situation is the emergence of cases between migrant workers of African nationalities, and the southern region includes, in particular, a large number of illegal immigrants working in various fields," the Libyan official said.

The Libyan National Center for Disease Control in the capital, Tripoli, announced the registration of 50 new cases of the coronavirus during the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 874, and the recovery of 14 people.

The center said in a statement that on Wednesday, it received 788 samples to detect the new coronavirus from several laboratories across Libya, including 738 negative samples and 50 positive samples bringing the number Active cases to 874.