The authorities have announced that travelers from Brazil or India will be banned from entering Lebanon via Beirut international airport or by land.
The only exception concerns nationals of these countries who have stayed at least 14 days in a third country.
This information comes as the epidemic is spreading in these 2 countries, with the appearance of new variants which seem to be more contagious and lethal, having led to the saturation of local hospital structures.
Studies indicate that the Brazilian variant P.1 is more contagious, almost twice as much as other variants of the virus. Its transmission is said to be even faster than that of the British variant B.1.1.7. The risk of reinfection would also be increased: people who have already contracted the “original” line of the virus could be reinfected.
Also in Brazil, the total number of cases has exceeded 14 million with more than 70,000 new cases per day. This country is believed to have nearly 400,000 deaths.
In India, which has become the epicenter of the epidemic, the news has been marked by startling images of scenes taking place in hospitals overwhelmed by the disaster. A major oxygen shortage is affecting this country as international aid is just beginning to arrive. 360,000 new cases appeared yesterday alone for 18 million people infected in all.
The Indian variant has also been detected in 17 countries. “B.1.617 has a higher growth rate than other variants circulating in India, which suggests greater contagiousness,” WHO also assures
