A workshop for media professionals was launched by the Minister of Public Health in a bid to help collaborate with the Ministry of Public Health to disseminate information and guidance on the coronavirus. During the workshop, it was stressed on the need to collect information from the Ministry of Public Health through the preventive medicine service and the Epidemiological surveillance program as well as the quarantine at Rafic Hariri International Airport.

Hasan noted that some “irresponsible” social media are spreading fake and baseless news, causing the citizens to panic. Information should then be gathered from the competent entities of the Ministry of Public Health, where the concerned committees will be responsible for following up any suspected cases so as to issue credible data.

Dr. Iman Shankiti, WHO Representative to Lebanon confirmed that there are no coronavirus cases in Lebanon by far.

Dr. Nada Ghosn, the head of the Epidemiological surveillance program stated that the symptoms of coronavirus infections include high fever (+38ºC), coughing, sneezing and shortness of breath. The infected people are those who visited China, got into contact with coronavirus infected people or the healthcare providers who work in health centers where treatment is provided to respiratory illnesses with undefined causes.

Dr. Berri addressed the issue of the ships coming from the Far East to Lebanon saying that the incubation of the virus goes from 2 to 14 days, whilst the ship will take about twenty days to arrive, which means that any case of infection can be identified by the crew before reaching Lebanon. This is also applicable to the Chinese ship expected to arrive soon.