Lebanon will impose a three-week curfew for unvaccinated residents starting Dec. 17 and mandate vaccines for sure staff in an effort to stave off the brand new Omicron coronavirus variant.
These with out at the least one COVID-19 vaccine dose or a unfavorable PCR check up to now 48 hours shall be topic to a curfew from 7 p.m. to six a.m. Beneath new guidelines unveiled by Lebanon’s COVID-19 committee on Wednesday, public servants and staff within the safety, army, well being, training and tourism sectors have to be totally vaccinated by Jan. 10 or pay for their very own PCR check twice every week.
The coronavirus committee additionally determined to increase by a number of days the winter vacation for faculties and universities to ensure that college students to have extra time to get vaccinated. Bars and eating places shall be required to show away clients who aren’t at the least partially vaccinated or have examined unfavorable.
The small Mediterranean nation has but to verify any instances of the Omicron variant, however its strained well being care system continues to be struggling to tamp down COVID-19 instances. On Wednesday, the Well being Ministry introduced 1,892 new infections and 10 deaths from the virus, elevating the nation’s complete to greater than 670,000 instances and over 8,700 deaths because the begin of the pandemic.
A lot of different Center East international locations have rolled out journey restrictions and different containment measures to gradual the unfold of the brand new variant, which was found in South Africa and has since been recognized in additional than 20 international locations.
Saudi Arabia, which has suspended flights from 14 African international locations, confirmed its first case of Omicron in a “citizen arriving again from a North African nation,” the Well being Ministry stated on Wednesday. Israel has recognized a number of instances of the brand new variant and suspended the entry of overseas nationals for 2 weeks.
