Lebanon's financial crisis has strained the country's COVID-19 response and has brought nearly half the country into poverty.

The Lebanese pound dropped to a new low of 15,000 to one U.S. dollar on the black market, compelling protestors to block roads and set fire to tires and dumpsters on Tuesday.

Drivers, worried about rising prices, lined up at gas stations causing supplies to dwindle.

Meanwhile coronavirus cases continue to rise to more than 420,000 cumulative cases, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

The pound has lost 90 percent of its value since Oct. 2019, following anti-government protests, and prices of basic goods are hyper inflated.

The Lebanese army now lacks enough funds to support itself for the coming year and are unable to perform 90 percent of their duties, according to the officials.

Other nations, including France and the United States, lay blame on Lebanese leaders who have been unable to form a government following the government's resignation this summer over the deadly port explosion on August 4, 2020.

President Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, who is opposed to Hezbollah, disagree widely, causing the failure to form a cabinet.

On Tuesday, lawmakers approved transferring $200 million from the country's central bank to pay Lebanon's electric company to prevent widespread power outages in the next few weeks.

"Lebanon is in a death spiral," wrote Johns Hopkins University economist Steve Hanke on Twitter this week.

"Today, inflation is soaring at 326.85%/yr, the streets are ablaze, an [sic] politicians are asleep at the wheel. The only way to stop the death spiral is to implement a currency board."

Check out The China Report, our new weekly newsletter. Subscribe here!