Hassan: Lebanese Arriving from Abu Dhabi Tested Negative for Coronavirus

Health Minister Hamad Hassan assured in a tweet on Monday that Lebanese nationals repatriated from Abu Dhabi late on Sunday have all tested negative for coronavirus.

The plane was the second to land at Beirut airport carrying Lebanese passengers who were stuck abroad over coronavirus lockdown.

“All test results carried out on passengers arriving from Abu Dhabi are good and no cases of coronavirus were reported, thank God,” said the minister in a tweet.

Hassan renewed calls on “relatives of the passengers to abide by precautionary measures set by the ministries of health and interior.”

On Sunday, Lebanon started repatriating nationals who were stranded abroad in its first flights in weeks since it closed its international airport to stem the novel coronavirus.

Many Lebanese work abroad, in the Gulf or in Africa, while thousands of youth study in Europe.

The first of four planes touched down at the Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport late in the morning bringing in 78 passengers from Riyadh.

A second carrying 79 passengers from Abu Dhabi followed in the afternoon.

The Mediterranean country announced a lockdown and closed its airport from March 19 as part of measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, which has officially infected 527 people and killed 18 nationwide.

Dozen buses outside the airport transported the passengers to their homes to self-quarantine or to a hotel to await the results of tests on arrival.

All the tests carried out on passengers arriving from Saudi Arabia were negative, according to the health minister.