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People wear masks to prevent the corona virus in Beirut on November 30, 2020. Photo: Muhammad Azakir – Reuters. reuters_tickers
This content was published from January 4, 2021 to July 14, 20,
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon has declared a total lockdown for three weeks, including a nightly curfew aimed at curbing a surge in coronavirus infections that threatens to exceed hospital capacity in a country already facing a severe financial crisis.
The health minister of the interim government, Hamad Hassan, said that the general isolation will begin next Thursday and will continue until February 1, adding that details about the sectors that will be exempt from isolation measures will be released tomorrow Tuesday. .
And the Coronavirus Ministerial Committee announced that “the curfew (will be) from six in the afternoon to five in the morning.”
“It has become clear that the epidemiological challenge has reached a point that poses a threat to the lives of the Lebanese, in light of the inability of hospitals to secure beds,” Hassan told reporters after a Ministerial Committee meeting. about COVID-19.
Lebanon registered 2,870 new corona cases on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases to 189,278, while the total death toll from the virus has reached 1,486 since February 21.
The new lockdown measures come amid fears of exacerbating the problem of unemployment, inflation and poverty in the country.
Lebanon is facing a devastating financial crisis that has caused its currency to collapse, paralyzed the banking sector and deprived savers of their deposits, while medical supplies have declined due to a shortage of dollars.
And the country’s intensive care units faced a severe capacity crisis over the summer, with the virus spreading in the wake of a massive explosion in the port of Beirut that killed 200 people and destroyed many hospitals.
There is leniency among Lebanese to adhere to social distancing rules and other precautionary measures, and there is also fear today that there will be a significant increase in the number of injured after the Christmas and New Year holidays.
“It is a very big problem … in the next ten days it will be very difficult and we expect mortality rates to increase with increasing injuries,” said Dr. Mahmoud Hassoun, head of the department of intensive care and lung diseases at Rafic Hariri University Hospital.
“We are almost full now and we haven’t even seen the effect of the holiday period yet,” he added.
(Press coverage of Leila Bassam, Maha El-Dahan and Alaa Kanaan – prepared by Yahya Khalaf for the Arab bulletin – Edited by Ali Khafaji)
