Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Tuesday announced that the government will carry on with “the biggest ever operation to evacuate Lebanese citizens,” as more planes arrived from several European countries amid the global coronavirus crisis.

“Despite the bleak picture, what’s happening is very important, seeing as the Lebanese are requesting to return because their confidence in their state has been restored,” Diab added during a Cabinet session.

The French Red Cross on Tuesday sent around a ton of medical aid to the Lebanese Red Cross aboard an evacuation plane carrying Lebanese expats from Paris, MTV said.

The TV network said the French Red Cross made the initiative and collaborated with Lebanese Ambassador to France Rami Adwan and the head of Middle East Airlines’ bureau in Paris, Marcel Franjieh.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Tuesday reiterated that citizens’ deposits in Lebanese banks are “sacred,” this time during a meeting with Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh.

“People’s deposits in banks are among the sacred things that should not be disposed of under any circumstances,” Berri told Salameh.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday condemned the rocket attacks that targeted civilian facilities in the Saudi Arabian cities of Riyadh and Jizan, the National News Agency reported.

Security forces pursued, for the second day in a row, implementing strict measures that allow vehicles with even or odd plate numbers to drive for three days a week each in an attempt to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.

U.S. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis hailed on Tuesday the efforts of health workers in Lebanon and in the world for their “sacrifices” to stem the coronavirus pandemic.

“On this WorldHeathDay we salute all Lebanese and international health workers that are in the frontlines of battle against coronavirus in Lebanon and in the world, paying immense sacrifices,” said Kubis in a tweet.

Lebanon is likely to extend the general mobilization period for another two weeks to stem the novel coronavirus outbreak, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement on Monday defended Middle East Airlines chairman Mohammed al-Hout, hours after the Free Patriotic Movement suggested that the national airline and its chief are involved in wrongdoing.

“The FPM launches false accusations against every successful national institution, like it is doing today with MEA,” Mustaqbal’s media affairs committee said in a statement.

A number of protesters on Monday staged a sit-in outside the serail of Tripoli before being disperses by the army for flouting the coronavirus instructions banning gatherings, the National News Agency said.

“They chanted slogans against corruption and the officials, calling on the government to offer urgent aid to Tripoli’s residents because they are suffering a stifling economic hardship and difficult living conditions due to the general mobilization order and the suspension of their jobs,” NNA added.

The Lebanese Order of Physicians and its Society for Infectious Diseases & Antimicrobial Chemotherapy on Monday said there is urgent need to increase the number of lab tests related to the coronavirus pandemic, especially rapid tests.

“Rapid tests are much cheaper than PCR tests and they complement them when necessary,” LOP and the Society for Infectious Diseases said in a statement.