The Ministry of Public Health announced on Wednesday, February 26th, a second laboratory-confirmed case infected with coronavirus (COVID-19). The ministry affirmed that this second case is epidemiologically linked with the first.
The symptoms appeared on February 24th, 2020, and the patient has been isolated in the Rafic Hariri University Hospital since then. Her health condition is reported to be currently stable.
According to the ministry, her family and close family members will be tracked and monitored daily by the Ministry of Public Health team.
The woman was on a seven-day religious visit to Iran and returned to Lebanon on Thursday, February 20th, on the same plane as the first case.
Her symptoms appeared later, on Monday, and the patient has been isolated in the Rafic Hariri University Hospital ever since.
The first case of coronavirus was reported in Lebanon on Thursday, February 20th. The 45-year-old patient was quarantined upon her arrival after the medical team identified the symptoms of the virus when they examined her.
The minister of health Hamad Hasan requested all passengers that had boarded on the Friday’s Iran-Lebanon flight to isolate themselves for 14 days as the virus may not show itself from day one, which is the case of the second woman infected.
The new patient, as well as her family and the ones she has interacted with over the four days of her arrival from her trip, are now being closely monitored by a medical team sent by the ministry.
Lebanese officials, as well as the Lebanese citizens, are demanding a travel ban to and from all countries affected by the virus, insisting that the ban is applied to all countries without any political cover or political spite.
In fact, at this critical stage in which the health of all the Lebanese is at high stake, political correctness, if any, should be set aside with the top priority given to the safety of the nation.
According to Al Jazeera, as of February 26th, the countries with coronavirus recorded are:
China (78,064) – South Korea (1261) – Japan (179 and 705) – Italy (374) – Iran (139) – Singapore (91) – USA (57) – Thailand (40) – Taiwan (31) – Kuwait (25) – Malaysia (22) – Australia (23) – Bahrain (23)- France (17) – Germany (17) – Vietnam (16) – UAE (13) – Canada (11) – Spain (11) – UK (9) – Iraq (5) – The Philipinnes (3) – India (3) – Russia (2) – Austria (2) – Israel (2) – Oman (2) – Lebanon (2) – Sweden (1) – Sri Linka (1) – Nepal (1) – Findland (1) – Egypt (1) – Belgium (1) – Combodia (1) – Afghanistan (1) – Algeria (1) – Belgium (1) – Combodia (1) – Croatia (1) – Greece (1) – Switzerland (1).
