First confirmed coronavirus case in Lebanon Palestinian refugee camp

Apr 22, 2020

Lebanon has its first confirmed case of the coronavirus in a refugee camp.

A Palestinian woman in a camp in the eastern Bekaa region tested positive for the virus, AP reported on Wednesday, citing the UN. The woman has since been transferred to a government hospital in Beirut for care, according to the report.

More than 100,000 Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon. They are Palestinian survivors of the first Arab-Israeli war from 1947-48 who fled to Lebanon, and their descendants.

Lebanon also hosts more than 1 million Syrian refugees.

The high number of refugees in Lebanon and the dire conditions they live in has prompted fears of a coronavirus outbreak in the country’s refugee communities. Some Syrian refugees told Al-Monitor that they cannot afford hand sanitizers and do not leave their tents to stay safe.