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two hours ago
Beirut – “Al-Quds Al-Arabi”:
The Supreme Defense Council decided to completely close all public and private institutions and the offices of self-employed professionals in Lebanon from the morning of Saturday, November 14 to the morning of Monday, November 30, with the exception of the Beirut airport and various sectors.
The President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, emphasized that “the closure decision will be taken at the national level, taking into account some sectors, factories and hospital institutions in order to carry out the responsibilities entrusted to them.” He said at the beginning of the meeting: “The situation derived from the outbreak of the Crown epidemic has become very dangerous, and it is necessary to take measures to help contain it and mitigate its repercussions, so that health institutions can play their role in treatment of the wounded “.
After the session, Acting Prime Minister Hassan Diab noted that “between the present and the future, people are busy ensuring their livelihood, even at the cost of their health. But the truth is that without health protection, livelihoods are not guaranteed. He said: “I fully understand people’s concerns, concerns and questions, but taking care of the lives of our parents, our families and our children is a priority over anything else. Today, all of humanity faces great danger from this epidemic that is sweeping the world, appropriating people’s lives and disrupting the economies of the largest countries.
He added: “We in Lebanon, we were on the right track in the process of containing this epidemic, and we successfully overcame the first wave, and Lebanon was ranked 15th among the countries that managed to face this epidemic because people at that time adhered to a high percentage of the measures. However, the explosion in the port of Beirut brought down these measures, causing a loss of control over the spread of the epidemic, in addition to some of the Lebanese not adhering to the rules of self-protection of the epidemic, by donning masks, sterilization and social distancing, which contributed greatly to the outbreak of the epidemic and its rapid spread to spread among the Lebanese. Perhaps, even today, there are those who believe that Corona is not a fatal epidemic, and this is what helps to curb the measures that the state takes to protect the Lebanese. In recent weeks, we have adopted many plans to contain the epidemic, through local closure of areas with high rates of infections, but these plans collided with the non-compliance of some people and bypassing procedures, as if it were just a violation. The reality is completely different.
He continued: “Today we have reached the red line in the number of injured, and we have reached the stage of extreme danger due to the inability of hospitals, government and private, to receive the injured in critical cases, because the beds of the Hospitals have been filled with critical cases, and we fear that we will reach a stage where people will die in the street in the “In hospitals, there are no places to treat the injured, or there is an exchange between one person and another” .
He said: “I know very well the economic damage caused by the shutdown, and I clearly hear the voices of economists and businessmen yelling against the shutdown decision and its repercussions on their businesses.” I also clearly hear the voices of doctors, hospitals and the entire health sector, raising the alarm and asking that the country be closed for a whole month, so that they can slow down the speed of the collapse of health. Unfortunately, if people had adhered to preventive measures months ago, we would have saved the country from this difficult decision in light of the difficulties the country is going through.
He concluded: “If the Lebanese adhered to the measures and we managed to contain the epidemic by reducing the number of wounded, then we would have saved people and we may have also saved the economy, because we will have anticipated the Christmas season well. But if the Lebanese do not comply and the casualty rate remains high, we may have to extend the shutdown for an additional period.
The president of the Economic and Social Council, Charles Arbid, chaired an economic meeting in the presence of the General Union of Workers and spoke about “the failure of the regional closure experiment for many reasons, among which the lack of implementation of the necessary measures to that such a step is successful and the lack of firmness on the part of the State, in addition to the lack of commitment of the community with the procedures and the lack of shared opinion with people from sectors ”. He said: “You deal with the results and do not address the causes … From this point of view, we hope that the imposed quarantine period will not be useless, but will be a sufficient period to reorganize the state of the health sectors and seek more feasible ways to reopen the country on clear economic and social bases and develop an economic and social strategy. To live with “Corona” and not settle for closing and reopening (stop and go) without the ingredients or plans that some countries have preceded us, and we must learn from their experiences in compensation to those affected by the general closure.
