Lebanon says 1st case of new coronavirus variant detected on flight from London

Lebanon has detected its first case of the new variant of the coronavirus, which has been spreading rapidly in parts of Britain, on a flight arriving from London, it said on Friday, according to a report by Reuters.

“The detection of the first case of the new variant of Covid-19 on Middle East Airlines flight 202 coming from London on December 21,” the country’s caretaker health minister said on Twitter, urging all passengers on the flight and their families to take precautionary measures.

A surge in coronavirus infections is straining Lebanon’s healthcare system, which was already struggling amid a financial crisis and following the huge port explosion in August which damaged hospitals in Beirut.

Lebanon, with an estimated population of 6 million people, has reported more than 1,000 deaths as a result of COVID-19.

Earlier this month, the caretaker health minister said that Lebanon was about  to sign a deal for Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine and was set to receive the first batch sometime in January 2021. Lebanon has also signed up to join COVAX, a global scheme backed by the World Health Organisation to provide vaccines to poorer countries.

Read: Israel bars Brits from entering after new ‘fast spreading’ Covid strain discovered