Education Minister Abbas Halabi said via Twitter on Monday that schools will not be shut down to curb the spread of COVID-19, despite a recent increase in cases in the country. “The school year is a red line,” Halabi underscored.

Here’s what we know:

    • "We will not lose the school year because of a relaxation in the level of precautionary measures in restaurants, bars and gathering places,” tweeted Halabi. “We will not close the schools and we will not let them [students] pay the price.”

    • The Minister also called on young people, as well as customers and restaurant owners, to “strictly monitor the application of the measures recommended by the national commission responsible for monitoring the pandemic, in order to avoid a total closure of the country, which would result from negligence.”

    • Lebanon is witnessing an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. The health committee announced new measures at the beginning of the month to curb the coronavirus’ spread over the holiday season. A curfew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m was imposed between Dec. 17 and Jan. 9 on anyone who has not gotten at least one COVID-19 vaccination dose or a negative PCR test in the previous 48 hours.