Lebanon’s coronavirus infections rose to thirteen on Monday after three new cases were confirmed.

The Health Ministry said the three individuals had been in home quarantine after having come in contact with an infected person who had been diagnosed earlier.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced Monday that Lebanon’s final decision on whether or not to pay a $1.2 billion Eurobond debt that matures on March 9 will be taken Friday or Saturday.

“The decision will preserve the rights of small and medium depositors as well as Lebanon’s interest,” Diab added after a high-level financial meeting at the Grand Serail.

The Israeli army installed a “device” reportedly a surveillance camera at the al-Abbad border post opposite the Southern Lebanese village of Hawla, the National News Agency reported on Monday.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab said on Monday that Lebanon is passing through a very difficult phase and that the government is going to take “decisive” decisions to overcome the crisis.

Financial Prosecutor Judge Ali Ibrahim began a hearing on “suspicious” amounts of money transferred abroad after the October 17 uprising, the National News Agency reported on Monday.

Health Minister Hamad Hassan on Monday said the novel coronavirus is “not a pandemic” in Lebanon assuring that cancellation of a flight that was scheduled to land in Beirut was a “proof that the cabinet decision to suspend flights from infected countries came into effect.”

Lebanon on Sunday confirmed three new coronavirus cases, raising the overall tally to ten.

“Three new lab-verified cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 have been recorded,” the Health Ministry said in a statement.

Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Hasan Fadlallah on Sunday defended Hizbullah’s participation in the ongoing battle in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib near Turkey’s border, hours after Hizbullah announced the death of eight of its fighters there.

“The Islamic Resistance martyrs who ascended yesterday were through their blood trying to thwart an attempt by the takfiri groups and the states that back them to spread their presence once again in Syria,” Fadlallah said at a memorial service for one of the slain fighters in the southern town of Kfardounin.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday called on Lebanese authorities to adopt a “more serious approach” in its measures against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

“The biggest concern is the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, which is threatening the safety of citizens be them young or old,” al-Rahi said in his Sunday Mass sermon.

One member of the Lebanese Army was killed and a second was injured on Saturday in an ambush in the al-Shawagir area in Hermel, the National News Agency reported on Saturday.

A statement released by the Army’s Orientation Directorate said the two soldiers were heading via their vehicle to visit someone in Hermel, when their car was ambushed by gunmen.