Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday warned against “tampering with Lebanon’s fate,” as he stressed that the church “will not allow its downfall.”

“It is a must to remind that the free financial and economic system – of which the banking sector is a key part and in which the Lebanese stash their lifelong savings – is a pillar of the pillars of the Lebanese entity which was established by the venerable patriarch Elias Hoayek 100 years ago,” al-Rahi said in his Sunday Mass sermon.

A senior Hizbullah official announced Sunday that his party “backs the government in its decision related to the Eurobonds,” urging the people and all political forces to “show solidarity with it and support its stance.”

Everyone should “cooperate with it so that it takes its decisions bravely, away from intimidation and blackmail,” the deputy head of Hizbullah’s Executive Council, Sheikh Ali Daamoush, said.

Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel has criticized a speech delivered by Prime Minister Hassan Diab in which he announced that Lebanon will default on its March 9 Eurobond debt.

“No legal measures were announced, no practical and instant reforms were announced, no economic and social steps for rescue were announced and no containment measures were announced to confront the repercussions from the default decision,” Gemayel lamented in a tweet.

Two units from the Tourist Police aided by members of the Internal Security Forces overnight hit the streets to “shut down all nightclubs that did not abide by the closure order” issued by Tourism Minister Ramzi Msharrafiyeh and Lebanon’s anti-coronavirus panel.

Al-Jadeed TV said the security forces moved at the instructions of Prime Minister Hassan Diab, Msharrafiyeh and Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Nassif Hitti expressed Lebanon’s solidarity with Tunisia over the suicide attack that killed a police officer and wounded six others, the National News Agency reported on Saturday.

An Economic and Financial meeting chaired by President Michel Aoun kicked off at Baabda Presidential Palace on Saturday, media office of the Presidency said on Twitter.

Progressive Socialist Party MP Bilal Abdullah voiced calls on Saturday to declare a “public health emergency” after the health minister’s announcement that the COVID-19 virus is no longer in the containment phase.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab will on Saturday announce Lebanon’s official stance on whether or not to pay a $1.2 billion Eurobond debt that matures on March 9, TV networks said.

Diab will declare the position in an address to the nation at 6:30 pm, the networks said.

Lebanon’s government-linked anti-coronavirus committee on Friday recommended extending the closure of educational institutions and nurseries until March 14 and called for shutting down sport clubs, nightclubs, cinemas, fairs, theaters and other venues that witness gatherings.

The panel also recommended calling on all citizens to “avoid gatherings and abide by the Health Ministry’s health instructions, especially as to safe distance between individuals, direct contact with others and the rest of the directions.”

Health Minister Hamad Hasan on Friday warned that the COVID-19 coronavirus is no longer in the containment phase in Lebanon after “four cases of unknown source” were recorded.

The Rafik Hariri University Hospital later confirmed six new infections, which raises Lebanon's overall tally to 22.