Nurses take care of a patient suspected of suffering from COVID-19 at a hospital in Beirut. (AFP/Joseph Eid)
A nationwide curfew took effect Monday night as part of authorities’ new set of coronavirus mitigation measures. The curfew, which will remain in place for an unspecified period of time, runs from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly. Meanwhile, a weeklong lockdown was imposed on 115 municipalities. This drew protests in some areas, including in Zalka, where shop owners demonstrated over the decision to close stores there while those in nearby villages remain open. Nine people died from COVID-19 yesterday while 1,080 tested positive.
Michel Aoun and Saad Hariri returned to the negotiating table in government formation talks, meeting for the first time since last Wednesday. Over the weekend, talks had seemed to be stalled, with some media reports blaming interference by Aoun’s son-in-law, Gebran Bassil, for the slowdown. Both Aoun and Bassil issued statements Monday denying that Bassil had taken any part in the talks, and Aoun asserted that there had been “atmosphere of cooperation and positive progress” in his latest meeting with Hariri. Yet press reports suggested very little has been agreed on.
The lira-dollar exchange rate fluctuated widely yesterday. It began the day at around 7,350 lira to the dollar and increased to 7,500 by midday, before falling to 7,100 in the afternoon and rising again to 7,200 by the end of the day. At the very least, the swings reflect uncertainty as Banque du Liban attempts to support the value of the lira by draining bills from the market. Despite the policies, the amount of currency in circulation outside BDL still grew 2 percent in the second half of October.
Two groups of families of students studying abroad plan to protest in front of the central bank and hold a press conference today to bring attention to the ongoing difficulties they face in transferring dollars abroad to pay tuition fees. A law passed by Parliament and signed by the president last month permitted a one-time transfer of $10,000 abroad for each student, and would provide dollars at the official, subsidized rate of LL1,515, well below the market rate. However, families say the law has still not been applied. BDL, in a statement issued Monday night, noted the need for “an appropriate regulatory mechanism be issued by the concerned authorities” and promised that “Banque du Liban will endeavor with the minister of finance to take action in this regard as soon as possible.”
A draft law that would criminalize sexual harassment in Lebanon took a step forward when a semi-final version of the proposal was passed by a subcommittee of Parliament’s Administration and Justice Committee. Like many other women’s rights law proposals — including attempts to reform the nationality law and to set a minimum age of 18 for marriage across all religious sects — there have been multiple attempts to pass sexual harassment legislation over the years, but none have become law. The full Administration and Justice Committee is scheduled to meet today. Claudine Aoun, the head of the National Commission for Lebanese Women and the president's daughter, told L’Orient Today that she hopes the committee will take up the proposal.