Daily Covid-19 cases in Lebanon climbed to more than 1,000 on Tuesday for the first time since April, the Health Ministry said.
It said it recorded 1,502 cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, up from 341 on Sunday, with one further death.
Experts said the increase could indicate a new wave of infections, as the healthcare system continues to suffer from the country’s economic collapse.
Dr Jade Khalife, a specialist in health systems and epidemiology, said the latest data suggested a new trend of increasing infections with the Delta variant.
He said the 18-month economic crisis and worsening power cuts will make it more difficult for hospitals to deal with a possible surge in patient numbers.
“We can be quite confident that this steep increase is mainly due to the Delta variant,” Dr Khalife told The National.
But the lack of a robust monitoring system in the country makes it difficult to build “a good picture of the spread of the new variant”, he said.
Lebanese health officials estimate that as many as 80 per cent of Covid-19 cases in Lebanon are of the Delta variant.
The variant first emerged in India and has now spread around the world and is driving severe outbreaks of the virus in South-East Asia.
Lebanon recorded its first nine cases of the highly infectious variant at the beginning of July.
The relatively low vaccination rate in Lebanon and the lack of border restrictions during the summer – the country’s busiest tourist season – have fuelled rising infections, Dr Khalife said.
Nearly two Lebanese residents in six have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine since the launch of an immunisation drive in February, Health Ministry data showed.
“Most of the population is susceptible to the Delta variant because of low vaccination rates,” Dr Khalife said.
Stricter quarantine measures on incoming passengers could halt the spread of the variant, he said.
Living conditions and healthcare quality have sharply deteriorated in Lebanon since the onset of a severe economic crisis in late 2019, which has pushed more than half of the population into poverty.
Beirut was once a medical centre for the region but its hospitals now have only a few hours of electricity per day, medicines are in short supply and medical staff are migrating en masse.
The financial collapse was partially triggered by a lack of foreign currency, creating shortages of products imported in dollars, including medicine and fuel.
“Unless there is another lockdown soon, it is very likely that a new wave is coming,” Dr Khalife said
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Price, base / as tested: Dh173,250 / Dh178,500
Engine: 5.0-litre V8
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Torque: 555Nm @ 2,750rpm
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
BULKWHIZ PROFILE
Date started: February 2017
Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce
Size: 50 employees
Funding: approximately $6m
Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
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Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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Company profile
Name: Thndr
Started: October 2020
Founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: pre-seed of $800,000
Funding stage: series A; $20 million
Investors: Tiger Global, Beco Capital, Prosus Ventures, Y Combinator, Global Ventures, Abdul Latif Jameel, Endure Capital, 4DX Ventures, Plus VC, Rabacap and MSA Capital
Skoda Superb Specs
Engine: 2-litre TSI petrol
Power: 190hp
Torque: 320Nm
Price: From Dh147,000
Available: Now
Opening Rugby Championship fixtures: Games can be watched on OSN Sports
Saturday: Australia v New Zealand, Sydney, 1pm (UAE)
Sunday: South Africa v Argentina, Port Elizabeth, 11pm (UAE)
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 4/5
Fixtures
Tuesday - 5.15pm: Team Lebanon v Alger Corsaires; 8.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Pharaohs
Wednesday - 5.15pm: Pharaohs v Carthage Eagles; 8.30pm: Alger Corsaires v Abu Dhabi Storms
Thursday - 4.30pm: Team Lebanon v Pharaohs; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Carthage Eagles
Friday - 4.30pm: Pharaohs v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Team Lebanon
Saturday - 4.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Team Lebanon
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
Paris Can Wait
Dir: Eleanor Coppola
Starring: Alec Baldwin, Diane Lane, Arnaud Viard
Two stars