BEIRUT (AP) – It was a choice between the outbreak of a spiral virus outbreak and the delivery of a dying economy in a country that has been in a gradual financial and economic collapse in recent years. The Lebanese authorities have chosen the latter.
Virus patients struggling to breathe are waiting outside hospitals, hoping a bed or even a chair will open. Ordinary people share contact lists of oxygen providers on social media as the critical gas becomes scarce, and the sound of ambulances transporting the sick is echoed by Beirut. About 500 of Lebanon’s 14,000 doctors have left the crisis-stricken country in recent months, according to the Order of Doctors, which further harms existing hospital staff.
The Lebanese authorities swung the other way on Thursday: they began enforcing an 11-day nationwide shutdown and the evening watch contest, hoping to disable the spread of coronavirus infections after the holiday season.
The curfew rule is the strictest measure that Lebanon has taken since the start of the pandemic.
Previous closures had diaper rules and were poorly applied. Residents are now unable to leave their homes except for a specific set of reasons, including going to the bakery, pharmacy, doctor’s office, hospital or airport – and for the first time, they must apply for a permit before doing so. Even supermarkets can only open for delivery.
While Lebanon somehow managed to average less than 100 a day by August, it now leads the Arab world in number of cases per million people. The number of daily deaths from COVID-19 is more than 13 times more than in July. On January 9, more than 5,400 infections were reported, a record for the small country.
According to the Ministry of Health, Lebanon recorded a new daily record of 41 deaths, bringing the total number of recorded cases to nearly 237,200 and 1,781 deaths.
As its neighbors begin vaccinating their populations – including Israel whose campaign promises the world’s fastest – Lebanon has yet to receive a first series of shots. Lebanon was once a leader in the health sector among Middle Eastern countries, and was stimulated in its efforts to obtain vaccinations by repeated bureaucratic delays, in part due to the fact that it has a caretaker government.
Parliament is expected to meet on Friday to vote on a draft law allowing the import of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, with the first deliveries expected next month.
“This is the result of deliberate decisions taken by irresponsible and immoral politicians,” said Sami Hanna, a 42-year-old businessman who in turn waited to enter a pharmacy in search of painkillers, antidepressants and blood pressure medicine for his elderly parents.
“This is how we now spend our days begging,” he said, adding that his next mission was to look for bread that was not in stock due to the purchase of panic before the curfew. “It’s too little too late. ”
The rise in coronavirus cases began in late August, a few weeks after the massive explosion in the Beirut port that destroyed parts of the capital, including several hospitals with virus patients.
The blast was caused by a fire that caused nearly three tons of ammonium nitrate, which had been sitting in a harbor warehouse for years – the kind of mismanagement that is characteristic of a corrupt political class that fails to provide even basic services for its to deliver people. .
The virus escalated into the chaos of flooded hospitals, funerals and protests that followed.
Politicians could not further complicate efforts to curb the virus, not even agreeing on a new government since the old government resigned after the port explosion, ensuring the country’s continued unraveling.
But in December, when most governments around the world tightened closures, Lebanon went the other way, allowing restaurants and nightclubs to reopen with barely any restrictions. An estimated 80,000 expats flocked to the country to celebrate Christmas and New Year with loved ones – many of them Lebanese who visited during the summer due to the devastation caused by the explosion.
‘The holiday season had to be the time for lock-up. The season of crowds, shopping and parties, ”said Hanna Azar, owner of a currency exchange and telephone shop. ‘They opened it to let dollars into the country and now they want to close. Especially in this economic crisis, people do not have money to eat. ”
Many hospitals have now reached the maximum capacity for coronavirus patients. Some ran out of beds, oxygen tanks and fans. Others stopped elective surgery.
Last week, Lebanon imposed a 25-day nationwide shutdown and a night watch to curb the spread of the virus, but many sectors were released and its application was as in the past. Many businesses, including hair salons, have welcomed customers behind closed shop fronts. In some areas of northern and southern Lebanon, things were as usual.
With hospitals on the brink of collapse, the government on Thursday ordered a nationwide 11-day curfew that caused three days of chaos when crowds emptied store shelves in supermarkets and bakeries.
On Thursday, police manned checkpoints across the country and checked motorists’ permission to be on the road.
Halim Shebaya, a political analyst, said the government did not yet have a clear strategy, and warned that it would be difficult to drop the numbers late in the game.
“The most important issue now is the absence of confidence in the government and authorities and the management of a pandemic necessitates the presence of public confidence in measures taken by the authorities,” he said.
Nevertheless, Rabih Torbay, who heads Project HOPE, an international global health and humanitarian organization, said it was essential and called on the authorities to take any steps that could help combat infections.
“Every day that passes through the country slides further into the abyss,” he said.
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Associated Press journalists Fadi Tawil and Bilal Hussein reported.