Experts urge for special budget to contain COVID-19 in Lebanon
Xinhua
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BEIRUT, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Local health experts said that the Lebanese Health Ministry is doing the best to stop the spread of COVID-19, while it needs more financial support and facilities.

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Lebanese nurses wearing protective masks work at a ward where the first case of coronavirus in the country is being treated, at the Rafik Hariri University Hospital in the southern outskirts of the capital Beirut, on February 22, 2020. (Photo: AFP)

Bilal Abdallah, a member of the parliamentary health committee, told Xinhua that the team appointed by the cabinet to deal with this crisis should have more financial capacity to be able to draw a complete strategy in case the virus spreads further.

"The ministry is doing efforts in limiting the spread of the virus. But its capacities are not enough. We suggested to create equipped centers all over the regions to isolate people and contain the virus," Abdallah said, adding that the cabinet did not allocate money for this purpose.

Lebanon's health ministry is currently adopting recommendations issued by WHO by sending people who arrive from infected countries with symptoms of the virus directly to the hospital for tests and isolation and asking others who interacted with infected people to isolate themselves.

Lebanese health ministry has so far reported two COVID-19 cases in Lebanon and it is issuing daily reports to provide people with recent updates about the virus.