Lebanon confirmed 18 more coronavirus infections on Sunday, raising the overall tally to 248, the Health Ministry said.

“There are also five cases reported by laboratories not accredited by the Ministry and they require re-confirmation at the Hariri hospital,” the Ministry said in its daily report.

Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi on Sunday launched an executive plan to enforce the government’s emergency measures over coronavirus.

“The law will be implemented on everyone. Every violation threatening public safety will be suppressed and I won’t receive phone calls from anyone,” Fahmi said at a press conference.

A retired policeman was found killed Sunday morning inside his grocery shop in the town of Miyeh w Miyeh near Sidon, the National News Agency said.

MTV said he was shot by a silencer-equipped pistol from a close distance.

The army was on Sunday staging patrols across Lebanon and using helicopters over many areas to ask citizens to stay home and respect a lockdown declared by the government over coronavirus.

Army helicopters hovered over Beirut, the Bekaa, Keserwan, Upper Metn and Aley, according to the National News Agency and other reports.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri has appealed to all citizens, “to the fathers, mothers and young men and women all over Lebanon, to stay at home and deal with home confinement as the only safety line" against coronavirus.

He said on Twitter: “The coronavirus epidemic is a treacherous enemy... I appeal to you to remain home and deal with home confinement as the only safety line."

Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Sunday called on the Army Command and the rest of security forces to take strict measures to ensure citizens are staying in their homes unless it is extremely necessary, following major breaches of the government’s “general mobilization” order over the past days.

“The plans include staging patrols and erecting checkpoints on roads to enforce commitment to the taken measures,” Diab said in an address to the nation dedicated to the coronavirus crisis.

Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat on Saturday said Lebanon "could lose control" over the spread of COVID-19 virus if a state of emergency is not declared in light of a “quick” rise in the number of cases.

MP Assem Araji of the Parliamentary Health Committee called on the government on Saturday to declare a state of emergency over coronavirus because the "Lebanese are not abiding by the terms of home quarantine."

The Health Ministry said in its daily report on Saturday that 24 new people have contracted the new COVID-19 virus raising the number of total infected to 206.

Head of the Syndicate of Private Hospitals in Lebanon Sleiman Haroun said the time factor is very important in fighting the spread of coronavirus as he urged Lebanese citizens to stay at home.