Lebanon is facing exacerbating difficulties to stop a coronavirus outbreak after a sharp increase in the number of cases, including head of the Free Patriotic Movement Gebran Bassil and former minister Ghassan Atallah. Head of the Health Parliamentary Committee Issam Araji warned from the scale of the outbreak with the number of COVID-19 patients and deaths being on the rise. The MP warned that the number of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds, and pre-care beds equipped with oxygen in state health institutions and some private hospitals are already full. “There are more than 1,000 coronavirus cases among doctors and nurses,” Araji said. He warned the Lebanese about the situation. “Be careful, the situation is dangerous. Deal with it responsibly because this virus is not a joke." On Sunday, the Health Ministry announced the registration of 1012 new Coronavirus cases, thus raising the cumulative number of infected cases since February 21 to-date to 36,240. It also indicated that 7 death cases were reported during the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, a statement issued by the FPM’s media office said MP Gebran Bassil has tested positive for coronavirus. The statement said Bassil will quarantine until he recovers, noting that the infection level is still "low and acceptable." It added that the MP wished to inform all those who were in contact with him recently, and to apologize for not knowing about his condition earlier. Also Sunday, the Crisis Cell in the north governorate announced in its daily report that 53 new cases have been recorded in Akkar, the highest number of infected cases recorded in one day since the pandemics start. Also, 14 cases were reported in Zgharta and 12 cases in Koura. In the Beqaa, Governor Kamal Abou Jaoudeh urged municipalities to tighten their measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic while in the south, the Nabatiyeh municipality announced 23 registered cases of COVID-19. Meanwhile, UNRWA announced Sunday that the number of coronavirus patients among Palestinian refugees has increased to 942 cases including 23 deaths.