BEIRUT, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's number of COVID-19 infections increased on Wednesday by 292 cases to 7,413 while death toll went up by two to 89, the Health Ministry reported.
The health sector in Lebanon has been operating at a capacity rate of 50 percent due to the explosions that rocked Beirut on Aug. 4 and destroyed a big part of the city.
Firas Abiad, director at Rafic Hariri University Hospital, said on Wednesday that hospitals were already suffering from a low inventory in supplies and medications due to the financial crisis, but those supplies and medications were mostly depleted on the night of the explosions.
Meanwhile, he added, COVID-19 continues to spread in the community as record numbers of new cases and deaths are reported.
"We urgently need to expand bed capacity, and the field hospitals that were generously provided can be, with adjustments, an excellent opportunity to achieve that," Abiad tweeted.
Lebanon has been fighting against COVID-19 since Feb. 21.
The country has received several donations from different countries for the fight against COVID-19 including China which offered on June 11 around 17,500 masks, 1,500 protective gears, 1,320 goggles and 1,000 shoes covers to Lebanese public hospitals. Enditem
