In Lebanon, faced with record rates of contamination and hospitals overwhelmed by Covid-19 patients and those injured from the gigantic explosion of August 4 in Beirut, the containment decreed by the authorities comes into force on Friday August 21 for more than two weeks. It has a daily curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time.
Scheduled until September 7, these measures do not concern neighborhoods affected by the deadly explosion, where clearing, reconstruction and aid to the population can continue. During this period, ministries and public institutions will remain open, with only 50% of civil servants present, according to the ministry.
Over the past two weeks, Lebanon has recorded a sharp rise in contamination. On Thursday, on the eve of the reconfinement, Lebanon recorded 4 deaths from 605 new cases, according to figures from the ministry of health cited by Orient-Le Jour. In total, according to official figures, the country of more than 5 million inhabitants has counted 113 deaths and 10,952 confirmed cases.
Doubling of poverty in one year
Health Minister Hamad Hassan warned that hospitals in Beirut were now overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients and large numbers of injured from the blast at the port. The country is “On the edge of the abyss”, he said.
At the end of July, the Lebanese authorities had announced a temporary two-stage containment, but the second phase had been canceled due to the gigantic explosion at the port of the capital, which killed 177 people and injured more than 6,500 others.
In this dual context, more than half of the population in Lebanon is “Trapped in poverty”, the UN estimated on Wednesday, approximately double the estimate made in 2019. According to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, 23% of the population is in extreme poverty, against 8% in 2019.
Two new arrest warrants in the explosion case
Fadi Sawan, the Lebanese judge in charge of the investigation into the explosion which ravaged the port and part of the capital, issued two new arrest warrants on Friday, a judicial source told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
According to the national news agency, these warrants would target Hanna Fares, the director of customs in Beirut, and Nayla Al-Hajj, an engineer in a company responsible for maintenance work in hangar number 12, where s’ the explosion is triggered. Authorities are investigating the origin of the blast, which left at least 181 dead and more than 6,500 injured, devastated entire areas of the capital and left around 300,000 people homeless. The disaster had been blamed on storage for six years “Without precautionary measures” of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate in a warehouse at the port of Beirut.
In total, six suspects, among twenty-five people prosecuted in the case, have been the subject of arrest warrants since August 4, including the director general of the port, Hassan Koraytem, and the director general of customs, Badri Daher.
The Lebanese authorities, accused by many of being responsible for the tragedy through their corruption and negligence, have rejected the idea of an international investigation despite the voices raised in Lebanon and abroad to this effect. However, investigators from the US Federal Police (FBI) arrived in Lebanon at the request of the Lebanese authorities to assist them in the investigation. France, which has two nationals killed in the explosion, has opened its own investigation.
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