As Lebanon faces a harsh financial crisis crippling the state’s ability to face health crises, the Lebanese people are growing increasingly anxious about the novel coronavirus, which the World Health Organization has declared as a global pandemic.

Health Minister Hamad Hassan said March 13 that a state of health or civil emergency might be declared soon and that there were more cases to come. The ministry said the country had registered 96 cases. 

The first case of the coronavirus was registered in Lebanon on Feb. 21. Twenty days later, the government decided to ban flights to and from Italy, South Korea, Iran and China. Also, it decided to give Lebanese citizens seeking to return to Lebanon four days to do so before it bans all travel to and from countries that have witnessed significant outbreaks of the coronavirus such as France, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, the United Kingdom and Spain.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab called on public administrations and municipalities to split employee shifts, as official departments remained closed for three days for disinfection purposes.