The new COVID variation from India, called Delta, is on the rise all over the globe and frightens people and governments. Now, first cases have been reported in Lebanon.
States that came along pretty well with the pandemic so far, such as Taiwan and Vietnam, or were able to vaccinate many of their people, such as Great Britain and Israel, had recently some trouble with increasing cases of COVID, triggered by the new Delta variation (B.1.617.2). Other states, like Iran and parts of South America, getting closer to a state of panic in sign of a new wave.
Since Lebanon was able the report the lowest number of cases during the last ten months on June 26, numbers are rising again. This may correlate with a laissez-faire attitude that can be seen in many cases all over the country. Restaurants are open, events taking place indoors, and there is a clear decline in the use of masks. This is especially apparant in public transportation.
On Friday, the Ministry of Public Health registered nine cases of the Delta variation, all of them at the Airport in Beirut, brought in by travellers. There has already been harsh criticism on the security efforts at the Airport in the last year, many say it was responsible for the heavy rise of cases during last fall and winter.
Saturday however, there were reports of 26 cases of Delta at local people, while six from people who travelled through the Airport. It may be just a question of time until the virus take control over Lebanon once again.
Simon Dierich 