Lebanon Declares State of Health Emergency, Warns of Total Collapse

Lebanon declared, on Monday, a state of health emergency after registering record numbers of new infections with the novel Coronavirus during the last week, deciding, at the same time, to impose more strict measures with regard to the general lockdown.

In recent days, officials and doctors have reported that major hospitals have exceeded their capacity. During the past few days, infected people have had to wait for long hours in emergency departments before they could be provided with beds. Hospitals treated arriving patients in their cars, due to overcrowding in emergency rooms and departments designated for the pandemic cases.

After an extraordinary meeting held by President Michel Aoun at the Presidential Palace, and in the presence of a number of concerned ministers and officials, the Supreme Defense Council declared a "health emergency", and decided to apply a series of strict measures, on top of which is the imposition of a curfew starting from Thursday morning until the 25th of this month, with exceptions for health workers, vital facilities, the military and journalists.

The council approved reducing passenger traffic at the airport while entry of arrivals through land and sea border crossings is also stopped, with the exception of those in transit.

The council asked the concerned ministers to tighten measures to "oblige private hospitals to introduce intensive care beds dedicated to treating Coronavirus patients under penalty of legal, administrative and judicial prosecution."

President Michel Aoun considered that "the tragedy that we see at the gates of hospitals requires radical measures so that we can mitigate the catastrophic consequences of the outbreak of the pandemic."

On his part, caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab called for strict application of measures "because failure to implement them means a comprehensive health collapse" adding: "we are facing a frightening health reality and the Coronavirus pandemic is almost out of control."

During the last seven days, infections increased by 70% from what they were in the previous week, according to AFP data, making Lebanon one of the countries currently witnessing one of the largest increases in the world in terms of infection.

Lebanon hopes to receive the first batch of the Coronavirus vaccine from the "Pfizer-Biontech" company next month.

The increasing outbreak of the virus comes at a time when Beirut is witnessing its worst economic crisis, which has doubled poverty rates, prompting economic bodies to object to the restrictions of closure.