Lebanon began Thursday the first day of a particularly strict confinement imposed by the authorities for eleven days, in order to slow the exponential progression of cases of the new coronavirus and relieve a hospital sector under pressure.
Lack of hospital beds
The measure went into effect Thursday and will remain so until January 25, after some hospitals began to run out of beds to treat patients with the novel coronavirus.
Since the end of December, Lebanon has experienced an exponential spread of the virus, with daily peaks not seen since the onset of the pandemic in February 2020. Thursday, a new record was reported with 41 deaths in the last 24 hours, while 5,196 news contaminations were recorded.
Some recalcitrant
However, residents sometimes defied restrictions in parts of the capital and suburbs with largely empty streets. Mini-markets, grocery stores and bakeries remain open to serve local residents, who traveled despite the ban.
The internal security forces, however, estimated at 94% the level of compliance with confinement at midday, while the police and municipal police conduct regular patrols and have set up mobile roadblocks to control cars and sanction offenders.
Queues for two days
Under the new measures, the Lebanese can officially not leave their homes during this lockdown, not even for food shopping or exercise for example. Supermarkets are open for deliveries only.
In recent days, residents have flocked to supermarkets and pharmacies for supplies.
“Fulfilled” emergencies
This hardening comes as patients have had to wait hours in the emergency department before getting an intensive care bed. Some have even been forced to seek treatment at home or in their car.
Thursday, the director of Geitawi hospital, Father Pierre Yared, spoke of an “exceptional situation”, reporting an influx of new patients with Covid during the night.
He said admissions to the hospital emergency department had increased “30 to 40 percent”.
“The emergency department is saturated with coronavirus patients, there are no longer ordinary patients,” he added.
Certificates for rare exceptions
The country of six million inhabitants has so far recorded 237,132 cases, including 1,781 deaths.
Travel certificates – to go to a doctor or to the airport for example – are possible by sending an SMS or by completing an online form set up by the authorities.
A few exceptions are also provided for the travel of health personnel, journalists and employees of the food sector.
The current outbreak of the virus is largely due to the easing of restrictions during the holiday season, with restaurants, bars and nightclubs open until 3 a.m.
The Minister of Health hospitalized
And this exponential spread spared almost no one.
On Wednesday, the interim Minister of Health, Hamad Hassan, was hospitalized after contracting the Covid-19.
Some fear that the strict measures now in force will worsen the living conditions, already largely precarious, of vulnerable families in a country in the grip of its worst economic crisis in decades and where half the population lives below the threshold of poverty. poverty.
“Very concerned”
“We are very concerned that vulnerable families and their children will be on their own,” the NGO Save the Children warned on Monday.
Faced with the magnitude of the double health and economic crisis, the World Bank on Tuesday approved emergency aid of 246 million dollars (202 million euros) to come to the aid of 786,000 Lebanese.
But the modalities and the date of disbursement of this aid are not yet clear.
Unprecedented series of crises
Since the fall of 2019, Lebanon has experienced its worst economic and financial crisis in decades, leading to a 19.2% drop in GDP in 2020, triple-digit inflation and large-scale impoverishment, estimates the World Bank.
The economic crisis has been exacerbated by political instability that has persisted since October 2019 and the global pandemic, which has already forced the country to declare several lockdowns since March 2020.
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