Libya’s National Center for Disease Control has announced a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases this month and has blamed the biggest outbreak on a repatriations of nationals whom were stranded abroad.
The NCDC announced more than 90 new cases around the southern city of Sebha where most of the nationals stayed.
By Tuesday, Libya had confirmed 332 cases of COVID-19, of which 142 were in Sebha 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.
Ali Saidi, the head of Sebha’s quarantine centre said, “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.”
Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj, head of the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli has thus formed a committee to investigate the spread of coronavirus among people returning from abroad.
