Lebanon’s SGBL bank on Wednesday announced that it will postpone collecting the monthly payments for personal and business loans for the months of March, April and May 2020.

No penalties will be imposed and the delayed payments will entail a 0% interest rate, the bank said in a statement.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab held a meeting at the Grand Serail with UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis where talks focused on ways to cooperate with the United Nations to help Lebanon combat the novel coronavirus pandemic, the National News Agency reported Wednesday.

Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najm said in a tweet on Wednesday that fighting the system of quotas in Lebanon is more difficult than fighting the novel COVID-19 pandemic, as the cabinet braces to approve administrative appointments related to Banque du Liban and the Capital Markets Authority.

“Thirty years of clientelism and distribution of quotas between sectarian leaders resulting in: corruption in the state’s structure, $100 billion and more in debt, economic and financial collapse, despair, emigration and an uprising,” said Najm in her tweet.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Bahrain & Deputy State Department Spokesman Adam Ereli on Wednesday warned of the consequences if the novel COVID-19 virus hits encampments of refugees deployed in various countries.

The response of Western countries and international organizations to Lebanon's call for aid to confront coronavirus declined, and the circulars sent to embassies and Lebanese consulates did not list any request for medical supplies, the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat daily reported on Wednesday.

The Army Command has ordered that all officers and soldiers be placed under quarantine at the Land Border Regiment in Ras Baalbek after a major was infected with the novel coronavirus.

An army statement confirmed the officer's infection and said he was undergoing treatment.

Hizbullah on Tuesday unveiled its plan to confront the novel coronavirus pandemic in Lebanon, titled “Societal Resistance for a Country Free of the Coronavirus Pandemic”.

Under the plan, the party will deploy 1,500 doctors, 3,000 nurses and medics, 5,000 health workers and 15,000 field services cadres and will cooperate with municipalities and municipal crews, it said in a statement.

Israeli warplanes flew at low altitude Tuesday over the Lebanese regions of Metn and Keserwan, sparking a state of panic, state-run National News Agency reported.

Syria’s state news agency SANA later reported that Syrian air defenses were engaging “hostile targets” over the central Syrian region of Homs.

The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a mechanism for bringing home willing Lebanese expats amid the global coronavirus crisis.

"The plan will be implemented from April 5 to April 12," Information Minister Manal Abdul Samad announced after a Cabinet meeting at the Grand Serail.

UNIFIL on Tuesday handed over a number of equipment and other accessories to the Naqoura Municipality, which hosts the U.N. Mission’s Headquarters in south Lebanon.