Lebanese Forces party chief Samir Geagea said his party has been recently holding contacts in a bid to swiftly form an “opposition rescue front, with the main goal of pushing for early parliamentary elections.”

Firas Abiad, director general of the state-run Rafik Hariri University Hospital, which is leading the coronavirus fight, said on Thursday that “Lebanon’s coronavirus alert level is moving to 4,” meaning transmission is rising rapidly.

The World Bank announced Thursday it will put $34 million into a program to provide coronavirus vaccines for more than two million people in Lebanon, which is experiencing a major surge in Covid-19 cases.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday expressed relief over the departure of Donald Trump from the White House.

"Trump, (Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo & Co. are relegated to the dustbin of history in disgrace," Zarif said in a tweet after Democrat Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States.

The country’s anti-coronavirus follow-up committee on Wednesday recommended a two-week extension of the full lockdown that began on January 14, TV networks said.

Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan was discharged Wednesday from hospital following several days of treatment from Covid-19.

MP Georges Okais of the Lebanese Forces-led Strong Republic bloc warned Wednesday that “the scenario of the port explosion might be repeated.”

The UAE Ambassador to Lebanon Hamad el-Shamsi paid farewell visits to PM-designate Saad Hariri and Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday, the National News Agency reported.

President Michel Aoun discussed with caretaker Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni the steps to accelerate the agreement with Alvarez & Marsal forensic audit firm, after the Lebanese Parliament approved the law of suspending bank secrecy for one year, the National News Agency reported.

Caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi said he will recommend an extension of a total lockdown imposed in the country taking into consideration the uncontrollable increase in deaths due to the spread of coronavirus, Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported Wednesday.