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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Asharq Al-Awsat

No New Coronavirus Cases in Lebanon in Past 24 Hours, Infections Spike in Morocco Jail

An aerial view shows the Beirut Corniche empty during a nighttime curfew imposed to stem the spread of coronavirus. (AFP)

Lebanon recorded no new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours for the first time during the country's outbreak, the health ministry said in its daily report on Tuesday.

It said that after 487 tests conducted in the last 24 hours the number of infections stood at 677, with 21 deaths.

Under Lebanon's lockdown since mid-March, people can only leave their homes to buy food or medicine, with most businesses closed.

An overnight curfew also bans going outside between 8 pm and 5 am, with security forces enforcing curbs.

Meanwhile, in Morocco, 68 people, mostly staff, have come down with the coronavirus at a prison in the southern city of Ouarzazate, prison authorities said on Tuesday, without reporting any deaths.

Earlier this month Morocco released 5,645 prisoners - some of them in poor health - to help reduce the risk of the coronavirus spreading in its prisons as has happened in other countries.

At the Ouarzazate facility, at least six inmates were among those to have contracted the coronavirus and all were now undergoing testing, a prison statement said.

Morocco has confirmed 3,186 cases of the COVID-19 lung disease including 144 deaths. It has imposed a lockdown on public life that has been extended until May 20, and made the wearing of face masks in public compulsory.

Morocco’s prime minister said on Tuesday the rise in cases despite weeks of lockdown restrictions is due to transmission within families, factories and commercial centers, where food shops remain open.

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