The Higher Defense Council on Monday declared a general state of emergency that begins on Thursday and ends on January 25.

A daytime and nighttime curfew will be enforced from 5am Thursday until 5 am January 25 and all public and private cars will be banned from the streets, the Council said in a statement.

President Michel Aoun on Monday called for a “state of health emergency” in the country to “confront the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.”

“The tragedy we are witnessing at the doors of hospitals requires drastic measures so that we manage to alleviate the disastrous repercussions of the spread of the coronavirus pandemic,” Aoun added at the beginning of an emergency meeting for the country’s Higher Defense Council.

The Syndicate of Importers of Foodstuff, Consumer Products & Drinks on Monday reassured Lebanon’s residents that the country has sufficient stocks for at least two months, as reports that authorities intend to close supermarkets and grocery shops prompted consumers to panic buy.

In a statement, the Syndicate said it understands “citizens’ eagerness to buy foodstuffs with the inclination to declare a one-week general lockdown,” but noted that “the ongoing rush is unnecessary and would increase the spread of the pandemic.”

Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab said Monday the country has entered a "very critical zone" in the battle against the coronavirus as his government mulls tightening the nationwide lockdown announced last week.

Following a new post-holiday surge in infections, the government imposed a nationwide lockdown and a nighttime curfew. But many were critical of the measures, calling them lax for exempting many sectors, such as factories, plant nurseries and exchange bureaus.

The Ministerial Health Committee tasked with following up on coronavirus said during a virtual meeting on Monday that Lebanon can not purchase Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine before approving a law that gives the firm protection from legal action.

Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab said Lebanon must impose a strict lockdown to curb the virus spread, otherwise the country faces a “much more dangerous model than the Italian one.”

After a “long interruption” in contacts between Bkirki and Hizbullah, MTV television station said Monday that senior Hizbullah official Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyed has contacted Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi offering his condolences over the death of his brother.

Director general of the state-run Rafik Hariri University Hospital, Firas Abiad said on Monday the capacity of hospitals in Lebanon have “depleted” amid an uncontrollable surge in coronavirus cases, warning that the situation “is not well” at the virus level.

Forming a new government in Lebanon seems to falter further despite the country’s need for a reform cabinet much hoped for to begin the process of recovery in the crisis-hit nation.

Media reports close to Baabda Presidential Palace told al-Joumhouria daily on Monday that no progress was recorded from any side or party in relation to the governmental file.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat on Sunday noted that “amid the corona invasion” of Lebanon, “political debate no longer has any value or meaning.”

“Some of us gets excited or drowns in local affairs while every day it becomes evident that we are going around in a vicious cycle,” Jumblat tweeted.