Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan said on Monday that Lebanon should be locked down for two weeks after a spike in COVID-19 infections. "We declare today a state of general alert and we need a brave decision to close (the country) for two weeks," the minister told Voice of Lebanon radio. Lebanon registered a record 439 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours on Sunday. That brought the total number of infections to 8,881 cases, including 103 deaths since the start of the outbreak in February. A planned return to lockdown was abandoned in the wake of a massive explosion that ripped through large parts of Beirut on August 4, forcing thousands of people to seek medical attention at the capitals already overwhelmed hospitals. People remained in the streets in the following days, helping clean up and distribute aid as well as holding angry protests against the government, largely blamed for negligence that led to the explosion at the port. The countrys health services were already strained by the pandemic before the blast, which killed nearly 200 people and injured at least 6,500 others.