Record spike in
virus infections

Increase in detection

due to boosted tracking

The Ministry of Public Health said that 63 new cases of coronavirus infections have been diagnosed in the past 24 hours.

Out of the total, 36 cases are domestic. The remaining cases consist of travelers. The number of cases detected at the airport is 25 cases.

The spike in local cases is due to an expansion of epidemiological tracking of active cases reported in the past days, according to Bahij Arbid, advisor to the Ministry.

“Random testing is helping to detect new asymptomatic cases which act as silent spreaders,” he said. The number of PCR tests done in the last 24 hours reached 2,057 for local residents and 90 for travelers. The number of new detected domestic cases is increasing after the government lifted the lockdown.

Despite the high number of PCR tests done (more than 1,000), less than ten new cases were diagnosed daily in the first two weeks of resuming the economic activity in the country.

Incoming travelers who didn’t comply with the mandatory quarantine also contributed to the spike in the number diagnosed cases.

The Ministry will carry out epidemiological tracking to the new cases and thus cases of diagnosed coronavirus may increase further in the coming days, according to Arbid.