A coronavirus committee in the town of Hasbaya in South Lebanon has raised the alarm, saying the spread in the area is out of control.
Covid-19 has killed 433 and contaminated 48,377 people in Lebanon. Nine died in the past 24 hours, according the Health Ministry’s statement on Wednesday.
“In most cases the source is unknown," Hasbaya's committee said.
"Hospitals equipped to deal with cases of coronavirus are overcrowded and working at maximum capacity.
"Laboratories are working with great difficulty to respond to PCR test requests.
"Contaminations among medical staff has reached 100 cases. This signals that the situation is slipping out of control."
The committee appealed to the Lebanese Health Ministry and the World Health Organisation for medical equipment for Hasbaya’s public hospital to face the pandemic, which poses a “great and existential threat to our society.”
The committee accused some locals of not respecting social-distancing rules and not wearing masks.
Lebanon's case numbers are low by global standards, but intensive-care units have reached a critical 82 per cent of capacity, the WHO said.
Meanwhile, the virus continues to spread in Lebanon's overcrowded prisons, public hospitals and densely packed cities, where wearing masks is lax.
"If we continue with this exponential growth I don't think we'll last more than a couple of weeks," said Dr Eveline Hitti, chair of the emergency department at the American University in Beirut's Medical Centre.
Lebanon was praised for containing the spread early in the pandemic, averaging fewer than 100 daily cases until August.
But as the country's woes began to multiply, and victims of the port blast in August crowded into hospitals, the coronavirus took a back seat.
Match info
Australia 580
Pakistan 240 and 335
Result: Australia win by an innings and five runs
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Match info
Uefa Champions League Group C
Liverpool v Napoli, midnight
Roll of honour 2019-2020
Dubai Rugby Sevens
Winners: Dubai Hurricanes
Runners up: Bahrain
West Asia Premiership
Winners: Bahrain
Runners up: UAE Premiership
UAE Premiership
}Winners: Dubai Exiles
Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes
UAE Division One
Winners: Abu Dhabi Saracens
Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes II
UAE Division Two
Winners: Barrelhouse
Runners up: RAK Rugby
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
How England have scored their set-piece goals in Russia
Three Penalties
v Panama, Group Stage (Harry Kane)
v Panama, Group Stage (Kane)
v Colombia, Last 16 (Kane)
Four Corners
v Tunisia, Group Stage (Kane, via John Stones header, from Ashley Young corner)
v Tunisia, Group Stage (Kane, via Harry Maguire header, from Kieran Trippier corner)
v Panama, Group Stage (Stones, header, from Trippier corner)
v Sweden, Quarter-Final (Maguire, header, from Young corner)
One Free-Kick
v Panama, Group Stage (Stones, via Jordan Henderson, Kane header, and Raheem Sterling, from Tripper free-kick)
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
