Libyan authorities have renewed their appeals to citizens residing in areas where COVID-19 virus is widely spread not to leave unless necessary so that epidemiological and investigation teams are able to complete their contact-tracing mission and send those infected to quarantine centers.
This comes in light of the increasing number of infections and deaths across the country.
The National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) recorded on Tuesday 749 new coronavirus cases, including 169 who were in contact with infected people, and 18 deaths.
The capital, Tripoli, again had the biggest share with 438 new infections, while the eastern city of Benghazi recorded 54 infections, followed by some areas with a fewer number of cases.
The NCDC stressed the need to follow the necessary precautionary measures imposed to limit the coronavirus outbreak. These include preventing gatherings of all kinds, home quarantine, physical and social distancing, wearing masks, sterilizing and disinfecting all facilities, and paying attention to personal hygiene measures.
The center urged all local authorities and civil society institutions to provide all facilitations for the campaigns carried out by its monitoring, epidemiological investigation, and rapid response teams to limit the spread of the virus.
Tuesday’s figures bring the official total number of cases to 19,583. The percentage of these active total cases is far higher than in other countries, with only 2,247 having recovered.
The 18 additional deaths also brought the official death toll in the country to 314.
Many citizens believe that the number of deaths resulting from coronavirus is much more than what is announced.
Two subsidiaries of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) have suspended some of their work due to the expansion of the pandemic in the country.
Libya’s largest refinery, Zawiya, located west of Tripoli, has closed its offices from September 8 till 17 and reduced its staff by 10 percent.
In eastern Libya, the Arabian Gulf Oil Company has suspended all work and activities for 30 days to protect its employees from the pandemic, except those related to security.
Neither of the two oil companies that said they would suspend work on Monday announced any infection among their staff and said the measures were preventive.
Libya’s oil output has already been almost entirely halted this year by a blockade on exports since January by the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) of Khalifa Haftar.