Response to Coronavirus – COVID-19

Since the beginning of the Syria crisis, UNHCR has been supporting the refugee population in Lebanon through the national system by the provision of free or subsidized primary, secondary and tertiary health care.

UNHCR has strengthened its overall preparedness, prevention and response measures to account for the health and well-being of refugees, their Lebanese hosts and humanitarian personnel working for them all over the country.

Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, UNHCR teams have been committed to supporting collective efforts to prevent and contain transmissions of the virus, and avoid an overstretching of the health system which could be caused by a surge in cases needing hospitalization.

UNHCR’s COVID-19 support to hospitals will cover 800 additional beds and 100 additional ICU beds in total, including ventilators and other advanced equipment, as well as medicine stocks. Since the onset of the pandemic, UNHCR teams deployed all efforts to build dedicated hospital expansion facilities or rehabilitate existing unused sections and refurbish them with new medical equipment. The latter will remain the property of the hospitals after the pandemic, with the aim to cure many more patients long after COVID-19.