On Thursday, the Supreme Defense Council in Lebanon decided to extend a 24-hour lockdown until February 8, after it was scheduled to end on January 24.
“The strict restrictions on movement across the country will stay in place until Feb. 8,” the cabinet said in a statement.
تمديد قرار الاغلاق الكامل لغاية صباح يوم الاثنين الموافق فيه ٢٠٢١/٢/٨
#مجلس_الوزراء #حسان_دياب @makie_mahmoud #كورونا_لبنان #لبنان #pcm pic.twitter.com/bNNkSppSoD— رئاسة مجلس الوزراء 🇱🇧 (@grandserail) January 21, 2021
This decision comes upon the Ministerial Committee’s recommendation in response to a continued surge in COVID-19 infections and a relentless rise in the number of patients needing intensive care.
The statement said that exceptions will be reviewed according to the decision issued by the Prime Minister and after consulting the concerned officials.
In the past few days, Lebanon recorded a sharp increase in virus infections that exceeded 5,000 cases per day, while yesterday it reported the highest death toll which reached 64 deaths.
The cumulative number of infections since the beginning of the virus outbreak reached 264,647 in a country of around 6 million people, while the total number of deaths reached 2084.
