On Saturday, the head of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Badr Al-Din Al-Najjar said that the level of coronavirus infections had been extremely low in Libya, but that the epidemiological situation has changed since the first case was recorded in Sabha.
The country limited the spread of the virus in the country and managed to decrease the infection rate even going as far as not registering any infection during some weeks, he said.
Al-Najjar indicated that when the first coronavirus infection was recorded in Sebha, residents of the city did not respect quarantine rules, thus leading the numbers to rise.
Regarding the fears that people might be infected with the coronavirus without symptoms, Al-Najjar stressed: “Two weeks ago we conducted a comprehensive examination of thousands of Tripoli residents to reveal the epidemiological situation in the densely populated capital of Libya.”
He said that the government had adopted a comprehensive quarantine program for Libyans abroad before being returned home since security conditions and the difficulty of implementing 14 days inside Libya were too weak.
Currently, the program has been suspended and other solutions and methods have been considered to reduce the chances of an infection outbreak inside Libya.
The head of the NCDC pointed out that the causes of the disease outbreak are also due to the political turmoil and the ongoing conflict in the country, which prevented the provision of isolation rooms for those infected with the virus.
AFP indicated, according to its sources, that the service agencies in the city of Sebha initially refused to receive medical equipment from Tripoli, but later accepted them after the increasing number of cases inside the city.