In cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Minister of Public Health (MoPH), Dr. Hamad Hassan and the President of the Lebanese University (LU), Prof. Fouad Ayoub launched on 15 April 2020 a new e-project that will contribute to reducing the spread of coronavirus.

The program project (LUCOVID19), which was registered in the name of the Lebanese University and a number of partners, was launched on 9 April 2020 in the Ministry of Economy & Trade, in the presence of WHO representative in Lebanon, Dr. Iman Shankiti, WHO Deputy Regional Director, Dr. Rana Hajjeh, MoPH Director General, Dr. Walid Ammar, the Head of the LU University Medical Center, Dr. Elie Hadchiti, and a number of stakeholders.

During the launch event, Minister Hassan stressed the importance of scientific cooperation between MoPH and LU, pointing out that LU has more than a patent in the field of technology and information, which will be considered by WHO to support and encourage LU students to contribute to the development of the equipment needed to confront coronavirus.

Professor Ayoub pointed out that the e-program consists of tracking infected or suspected coronavirus cases. He also revealed that LU registered a new patent of a “human-friendly” product that is expected to be an effective treatment for coronavirus patients, noting that the product protocol will be published very soon in an international scientific journal. On the subject of respiratory devices, President Ayoub indicated that a number of these devices will be delivered within 3 days to the hospitals and WHO to benefit therefrom.

President Ayoub said: "within next week, we will be visiting Minister Hassan with the robot and delivering five devices to the "Corona Unit" in the Rafik Hariri University Hospital and two devices for each government hospital operating on the Lebanese territory. These robots will prevent any interaction between the medical team and patients who will receive medications and food automatically."

At the end of the event, Dr. Hadchiti made a presentation in which he explained the program mechanism and facilities it can provide to confront coronavirus, by identifying the people who met with or were close to the patient and registering their contact numbers. Dr. Hadchiti stressed the importance of cooperation between MoPH and the Ministry of Interior to implement the program and maintain information privacy into one public authority.