In a press conference held at the Ministry of Public Health, the White Minister announced that “epidemiological surveillance teams at the Ministry of Public Health have recorded an increase in the daily injury rate to one hundred eight (108) cases, compared with less than forty cases per day in the previous phase.”
And he stressed that “the rate of positivity in tests has risen to 12.7%, after it was between 5.5% and 6% at the beginning of last December. As for the number of patients admitted to hospitals, it reaches seventy-one Corona patients, including seventeen in intensive care and four on ventilators.
The Health Minister said, “It is clear that there is a wave of Corona that has reached Lebanon in conjunction with the increase in the mixing rate during the festive period as well as the high probability of infection during the winter season. The situation is still under control and we expect the number of infections to decrease thereafter, as happened in previous waves”.
The white minister denied the public health ministry’s measures, explaining that “they include an increase in corona and flu infections, which have been very active this season and record a high number of cases in our society”.
The procedures are as follows:
– Maintain the epidemiological surveillance program at the highest level of preparation to keep pace with the epidemiological reality and its development
The Ministry of Public Health has provided PCR tests in a large number of government hospitals and laboratories at a low cost (one hundred and fifty thousand Lebanese pounds).
– Asking government and private hospitals to increase their readiness and re-equip a number of Corona-designated wards that were eventually closed.
Guarantee the vaccine, as the Ministry of Public Health has obtained a French donation of the new vaccine, Bivalent, which provides double protection against Omicron and the old mutant. The call is aimed at the most vulnerable people among the elderly and those with incurable and immune diseases to get the vaccine, noting that the Ministry, in collaboration with the Lebanese Red Cross, had carried out a vaccination campaign in several homes for the elderly against the epidemics of Corona and cholera.
Al-Abyadh explained that “the current epidemiological situation does not require mandatory measures against society, but rather the instructions required for everyone to follow personal protection methods, starting from wearing a mask to taking precautions in gatherings, especially closed ones”.
He said: “As for those showing symptoms of runny nose and cough, they must self-isolate and not mix, and if they are forced to leave the house, they must wear a mask.”
He added: “We rely on a sense of responsibility to ourselves and to society and encourage getting the vaccine.”
As for the institutions, the white minister explained that “the ministry has asked the health institutions to review the prevention measures followed with their workers and the need for them to obtain vaccines against corona and flu with the aim of increasing the protection rate required for patients who will go to these institutions”.
He specified that “there is currently no tendency to close schools while keeping the situation under surveillance. Similarly, regarding the airport, where it is clear, and in contact with the World Health Organization, that there is currently no need to rework the PCR exam, provided that the matter is reviewed if changes occur in epidemiological reality.” New mutations have appeared.”
