BEIRUT: Lebanon confirmed 255 new COVID-19 cases and two new deaths Thursday, amid a halt in field testing across Beirut following Tuesday's deadly explosion.

Despite this being the highest figure on record to date, the actual figure is therefore expected to be much higher with only those who have voluntarily turned up to get tested in Beirut being included in the tally.

We are not able to mobilize field testing teams in Beirut as it stands we need to asses our losses. We ourselves lost a member of the team last night, Nada Ghosn, head of the Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit at Lebanons Health Ministry, told The Daily Star Wednesday.

In total, 251 of the cases Thursday were recorded among the local community, and four among travelers.

This brings the total number of COVID-19 infections in Lebanon to 4,604, including 70 deaths since the outbreak first began in February.

Amid an increasingly deadly second-wave of the virus, the countrys health care system is now buckling under the pressure of the mounting wounded from the blast, with Lebanons Health Ministry so far unable to dispatch field testing teams to Beirut.

This has stoked fears among experts that the blast may only exacerbate the already skyrocketing spike in infections.

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