The number of coronavirus cases has surged in Libya this month, with health authorities blaming the biggest outbreak in a southern city on the repatriation of nationals stranded abroad.
The National Center for Disease Control last week announced more than 90 new cases in the southern city of Sabha after weeks with only a few dozen confirmed cases across the whole country.
By Tuesday, Libya had confirmed 332 cases of COVID-19, of which 142 were in Sabha and the others mostly in the northwest.
Libyan and international health agencies have warned of the high risks of any wave of coronavirus cases in Libya, where years of chaos and war have undermined the health system.
Libya closed its borders in March to stop the coronavirus spreading but last month began arranging flights to repatriate Libyans stuck abroad, without a quarantine requirement.
The disease control center attributed the cases in Sabha to people returning home, though the city medical center’s media office manager Mohamed Grain said they had not yet identified the “patient zero” who triggered the outbreak.
“The fear, if cases rise, is that citizens will not follow social distancing procedures. Then we will be unable to deal with all the cases,” said Ali Saidi, head of Sabha’s quarantine center where three out of 16 intensive care beds are occupied.
