Lebanon Records 3,150 Covid Infections as Cases Surge Across the World

Lebanon has recorded 3,150 new Covid-19 infections, its highest daily tally since vaccines rolled out earlier this year.

Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said he will personally oversee the precautionary measures on New Year's Eve.

Mawlawi stressed that "all security forces units will be deployed at hotels, halls and restaurants" to make sure they are adhering to the measures.

Capacity will be limited to 50% and strict measures will be taken until January 9, Mawlawi said.

All hotels and restaurants, in which New Year's celebrations will take place, will have to adhere to the regulations "under penalty of perjury, closure of the place and eviction of the guests."

Crisis-hit Lebanon's ailing health system is less prepared to handle a resurgence of the virus than during previous waves.

When cases spiked in late 2020, the influx of critical patients had brought Lebanon's hospitals to breaking point.

A worsening depreciation of the local currency and the mass emigration of health workers has only made the situation worse.

Studies suggest Omicron, now the dominant strain in some countries, carries a reduced risk of being admitted to hospital, but the World Health Organization still urged caution.

Highly transmissible Omicron threatens to overwhelm healthcare systems, the WHO said Wednesday as cases surged across the world in the past week to levels never seen before.

They were the highest figures since the World Health Organization declared a pandemic in March 2020, underscoring the blistering pace of Omicron transmission, with tens of millions of people facing a second consecutive year of restrictions dampening New Year's Eve celebrations.

"I am highly concerned that Omicron, being more transmissible, circulating at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference.