Young Lebanese Doctor Dies of COVID-19
Lebanese physician Louay Ismail, 32, died Monday at the Nabih Berri state-run hospital in Nabatieh due to COVID-19 complications, the National News Agency said.
Ismail, who hailed from the Tyre district town of al-Zalloutiyeh, had been a shift doctor at the emergency room of the Lebanese Italian Hospital in Tyre.
“He showed coronavirus symptoms two weeks ago and underwent three PCR tests all of which came out positive. He was quarantined for seven days before being transferred four days ago to the Nabih Berri state-run hospital after suffering severe pneumonia,” NNA added.
“He underwent the applicable treatments there before passing away,” the agency said.
Ismail's death is Lebanon's first medical sector fatality from the pandemic.
Health Minister Hamad Hasan mourned the young doctor, describing him as the "martyr of duty."
Information Minister Manal Abdul Samad for her part mourned Ismail in a tweet, describing him as “Lebanon’s angel.”
“He died after contracting the virus from one of the patients. He dedicated his time and life to help others in the face of coronavirus,” she said.
“Our white army is working silently. Aid the medical sector in the war against the virus through abiding by the measures,” the minister added, stressing that “precaution is necessary” and that “the disease is not a joke.”
Firas Abiad, head of Beirut's Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the main public hospital treating COVID-19 patients in Lebanon, said: "Today we mourn Dr. Loay, our young colleague, who fell while doing his duty, treating a patient with #Covid19."
"We have taken an oath and are willing to sacrifice all for our patients. Yet this does not take away the heartache or make the loss tolerable," Abiad tweeted.
Lebanon had on Sunday reported 84 more coronavirus cases, raising the overall tally to 2,856. That tally included 40 deaths and 1,515 recoveries.
The country has gradually lifted lockdown measures and opened Beirut airport to commercial flights at the start of July, after a closure of more than three months.
Over the past two weeks, the daily infection rate has risen, with dozens of new cases announced each day.
In the highest such increase, the government announced 166 new cases on July 12, including 131 sanitation workers.
At the height of summer, some beaches and bars are again thronging with people.
The health minister on Monday warned of a possible return to lockdown over "people's behavior" and non-compliance with social distancing.
The pandemic arrived with Lebanon already mired in its worst economic crisis in decades and many fearing the health sector could not cope with a spike in cases.
On Sunday, Abiad wrote on Twitter: "As the cases increase, more will need hospitalization... Are hospitals ready?"
Source: Naharnet, Agence France Presse
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