6 Virus Cases among Sierra Leone Evacuees as Lebanese Return from Syria

Six of the Lebanese evacuated Monday from Sierra Leone have tested positive for coronavirus, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

“The infected cases will be transferred to hospital while strict home quarantine will be imposed on those who tested negative, knowing that they will be followed up by the Ministry on daily basis and those who show any symptoms will be referred to hospital to repeat the test,” the Ministry said in a statement.

The expats who arrived from Yerevan, Riyadh, Kiev, Warsaw, London and Dubai over the past two days have all tested negative, the Ministry added.

Lebanese expats in Syria meanwhile started returning Tuesday to Lebanon via the al-Masnaa border crossing.

“According to the mechanism in place, the names of those seeking to return are being registered at the Lebanese embassy under the supervision of the Lebanese General Security directorate,” the National News Agency said.

A team from the Lebanese Health Ministry is examining the returnees and any person with symptoms will be referred to the President Elias Hrawi Hospital, NNA added.

“All returnees will meanwhile be distributed on hotels in central Bekaa pending the release of the results of PCR tests,” the agency said.

A new batch of Lebanese returnees will meanwhile arrive from Syria on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the Health Ministry said a Lebanese who returned from Guinea tested positive for coronavirus.

Tuesday's seven confirmed cases among the evacuated expats raise the country's overall tally to 747 – among them 25 deaths and 206 recoveries.