Beirut, 26th of February 2020: As part of the Lebanese American University (LAU) and the Lebanese American University Medical Center- Rizk Hospital’s duty to rise to medical challenges pertaining to public health matters in general, and to execute a pioneering mission to assess the herd immunity to COVID-19 amidst the pandemic in Lebanon, a research team constituted of LAU Medical Center-Rizk Hospital professors and doctors initiated and executed a one of its kind research initiative under the guidance and supervision of Dr. Roula Husni Samaha, MD Professor of Medicine, Chief of division of Infectious Diseases.
The research team, led by Dr. Ahmad Mahdi, reached out to Lebanese municipalities and refugee camps, and conducted 13,700 Serology Tests to residents of 137 municipalities from 8 different Lebanese governorates and 26 different Lebanese districts.
Patients from different age groups ranging from15 years old to74 years old were interviewed, recruited and tested for SARS-CoV2 antibodies.
The aim of this research, in line with the LAU Medical Center- Rizk Hospital motto to heal with compassion, is to assess the SARS-CoV2 herd immunity status in different areas in Lebanon, provide free Serology Tests to participating citizens and help guide public health policies in Lebanon.
Now that the research has been completed, the team will proceed with the analysis of the data and put forward all the conclusion of this study.