As the pandemic continues to spread, governments across the Middle East are clamping down on the region's cherished traditions: No more massive weddings and celebrations. No more evenings spent mostly by men in traditional coffee shops across the region. And most importantly, no more smoking of the beloved shisha, or water pipe, in public places.

Lebanon Friday pledged to finalise a plan to restructure the country's massive debt by the end of 2020, just weeks after its first default in history.

The Lebanese Army said in a statement on Saturday that its troops have deployed around all Lebanese regions to ensure that a curfew order to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus is respected.

Despite the opposition it faces by various political parties, a group of bankers are reportedly trying to again push a capital control bill, that organizes the relation between banks and depositors, to the Cabinet table for approval amid a financial crisis and shortage in dollars, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

Lebanon on Friday started implementing beefed up “general mobilization” measures with the closure of all shops including supermarkets at 5:00 pm and a curfew that starts at 7:00 pm and ends at 5:00 am.

Only pharmacies, bakeries, mills, medical and hygiene product factories, gas stations, media outlets, hotels, private security firms and crews related to sanitation, neighborhood generator providers and the electricity and internet sectors will be allowed to operate uninterrupted, the Internal Security Forces said.

Speaker Nabih Berri on Friday called on the government to hold an extraordinary session to discuss the issue of bringing home Lebanese expats amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Friday inspected the state-run Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut, which is leading the country's medical fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

The Health Ministry said on Friday that Lebanon registered 23 new cases of coronavirus and one death.

Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi said the measures will be tightened to ensure that the state of “general mobilization” declared by the government meets the desired goal in controlling the spread of the novel coronavirus, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.

Employees and staff at the governmental Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the leading medical facility fighting coronavirus, plan to stage a sit-in on Friday to protest nonpayment of their rights.

The committee of employees and contract workers said in a statement: “Employees and staff at the hospital have suffered and sacrificed since the opening of the hospital, especially during the spread of coronavirus, but until this moment they have not received their full rights such as the (salaries based on the 2017) wage scale law.”