Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan on Monday announced that Lebanon is in a state of general alert as the country witnessed a huge increase in the coronavirus cases following the Beirut Port blast.

“The numbers of virus cases being registered lately are shocking. “We need a brave decision to close [the country] for two weeks,” Hassan told Voice of Lebanon radio station.

“The next lockdown will be carried out in three parts: the airport, the city of Beirut, and other regions,” he added.

Hassan stressed that the surge in the virus figures was justified when they opened the country in the beginning of July, saying that now infections increased due to the blast that happened in Beirut two weeks ago.