BEIRUT (AP) – Lebanese authorities began implementing an eleven-day national shutdown throughout Thursday, hoping to limit the spread of uncontrolled coronavirus infections after the holiday period.
For the first time, residents had to apply for a one-hour permit to leave the house for “emergencies,” including going to the bakery, pharmacist, doctor, hospital, or airport.
Authorities came under pressure to take a tougher approach after the country’s hospitals ran out of beds with daily infections reaching a record high of 5,440 cases last week in the country of nearly 6 million people.
The dramatic rise in infections began in late December. As most governments around the world tightened their closures, Lebanon relaxed sanitation measures over the holidays, allowing restaurants and nightclubs to be reopened with hardly any restrictions. An estimated 80,000 expatriates returned to the country to celebrate Christmas and New Year with their loved ones, many of them expatriates who did not visit the summer due to the devastating August 4 explosion in port of Beirut.
“The holiday season should have been the closing time. The season of crowds, shopping and parties,” said Hanna Azar, owner of a money and phone transfer store. “They opened it to allow dollars to enter the country and now they want to close it, especially in this economic crisis. People don’t have money to eat.”
Even before the coronavirus, Lebanon was going through an unprecedented economic and financial crisis that has seen its national currency and its banking sector collapse and block depositors of savings. Hospitals, long considered among the best in the Middle East, struggled to pay staff, keep equipment running, and secure the necessary medical supplies as dollars were scarce.
Amid the increase, many hospitals have already reached maximum capacity for coronavirus patients. Some have stopped elective surgeries as they run out of beds, oxygen tanks and ventilators.
In addition, the country has been without a government since the old man resigned following the catastrophic August 4 explosion in the port of Beirut, which put further pressure on hospitals, flooding them with injuries. At least three hospitals were destroyed.
The massive explosion caused by the detonation of a stockpile of poorly stored ammonium nitrate ravaged the city, killing more than 200 people and injuring thousands.
On Thursday, police checked checkpoints across the country, checking motorists’ permits on the road and creating traffic jams in some cases. The curfew is the strictest since the beginning of the pandemic. For the first time, it was even said that even in supermarkets they had to close their doors and open them only for delivery. This decision triggered three days of chaotic panic buying as concerned citizens emptied the shelves of supermarkets and grocery stores.
Lebanon had just announced a national closure last week. But many, including the health minister and government committee officials, found it too lenient because it exempted many sectors. In some areas of the country, the operation was common, which led to more calls for a complete closure and a curfew.