Crowd in front of the entrance, jostling in the shelves, traffic jam at the checkouts: since the start of the week, supermarkets in Lebanon have been taken by storm. The population is rushing to stock up on food products before the country is fully sealed off. A permanent curfew has been decreed for the period from January 14 to 25, in response to the surge in the coronavirus contamination curve.
Since crossing the borders of Lebanon in February 2020, the epidemic has infected more than 226,000 people, including 30,000 in the past week alone, the equivalent of 300,000 in France. According to figures from Agence France-Presse (AFP), with a 70% increase in contaminations compared to the seven days preceding, the country is one of the states where the epidemic is spreading fastest, after Portugal (+ 73%), Nigeria (+ 77%) and Ireland (+ 190%).
” It’s hell “, headlined on Monday the local daily Al-Akhbar. A “hell” which is superimposed on two pre-existing crises: the free fall of the national currency, which has made more than half of the population sink below the poverty line; and the consequences of the devastating explosion of August 4, 2020, in the port of Beirut.
Increase more severe than expected
A half-re-containment had been imposed at the end of the end of the year holidays, with a night curfew, starting at 6 p.m. But the more severe than expected increase in the rate of positivity to the PCR test, which exceeded 16% the last two weeks, forced the authorities to toughen their anti-Covid-19 system. For ten days, the Lebanese will therefore not be able to leave their homes, whether to go to work, to go shopping, to do physical exercise or to walk their pets.
The supply of households, whose reserves would prove to be insufficient, will be by home delivery. The flow of travelers at the airport will be reduced to 20% of what it was before the virus appeared. Only a handful of professions considered essential, such as bakers, pharmacists and workers in the medical and food sectors, will be able to continue to circulate. For the Lebanese, whose standard of living has collapsed, this is yet another blow.
“ The tragedy we are witnessing in hospitals requires drastic measures ”, said President Michel Aoun. And in fact, the health care system is on the verge of collapse. According to the World Health Organization, the occupancy rate of beds in intensive care units is 95% and that of standard beds is 85%.
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