A delivery driver works during the full lockdown, which prohibits in-store supermarket shopping. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
BEIRUT — President Michel Aoun is set to chair a meeting of the Higher Defense Council Thursday, as health officials and doctors call for an extension of the current strict lockdown.
A source at the Presidential Palace told L’Orient Today that the primary focus of the meeting will be discussions on renewing the “state of health emergency” that came into force on Jan. 14, “among other routine topics on national security.”
The situation is dire. For a third consecutive day, Lebanon set a new record for daily deaths — 64 — while the number of COVID-19 patients in ICUs hit 855, surpassing the 800 mark for the first time. Some 4,332 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours.
The ministerial committee for COVID-19 met at the Grand Serail in the afternoon to discuss the recommendations it would present to the Higher Defense Council Thursday. No details were immediately available, but local media reported that the committee would propose a 10- to 15-day extension.
Sleiman Haroun, the head of the private hospitals’ syndicate, said it was “absolutely necessary” that the lockdown, which includes strict curbs on movement and the shuttering of the majority of businesses, be extended, as hospital admissions continue to rise.
“We have always recommended that the lockdown needs to be longer — at least four weeks — to have any real effect,” he said, adding that authorities will have to wait at least another seven days before the impact of the current measures begins to show.
MP Assem Araji (Future/Zahle), the head of the parliamentary health committee, questioned why the government had opted for an 11-day total lockdown “when it is internationally recognized that it must be at least three weeks to be effective.”
“This is what we are recommending as a committee, but we don’t know if they’ll listen,” he said.
For Jade Khalife, a physician specialized in health systems and epidemiology and a member of the Independent Lebanese Committee for the Elimination of COVID-19 (ZeroCovidLB), there is no doubt that the lockdown should be extended.
“If they don’t [extend it], the decreased transmission of the virus is too limited and we will end up at similar levels as today, and eventually worse,” he said.
At Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the main center for treating COVID-19 patients, “the scene is frightening,” said resident doctor Mouhamad Tahini.
“All our beds are full; there are around 25 people in the ER and we have others waiting outside in really bad shape — some of them are arriving with blood oxygen saturation levels below 80 percent.”
Normal blood oxygen levels are considered to be between 95 and 100 percent.
“What is worse is that we’re seeing young people dying,” Tahini continued. “We just lost a 25-year-old patient, and only three days earlier, a 24-year-old died.”
At Elias Hrawi Governmental Hospital in Zahle, the COVID-19 situation is “devastating,” according to Jalal Abdou, the head of the COVID-19 department, where all of the coronavirus ICU beds are full and staff are struggling to keep up.
Abdou also feels the present lockdown set to expire on Feb. 1 is insufficient. “The situation is critical and with this current lockdown, I don’t think it’s enough,” he said.
Hospital manager Joseph Homsi agreed. “We want to increase our capacity, but we are facing financial difficulties,” he said. “It’s not just about beds, it’s also about having the staff and equipment to provide the necessary quality of care.”
Meanwhile, those working in the food sector have called on authorities to reconsider the decision to keep supermarkets open for delivery only.
Hani Bohsali, the head of the food importers’ syndicate, said that demand for food products had “decreased significantly, not because of reduced need, but because people have been unable to get the food and basic items they need.”
The North Lebanon Traders’ Association said in a statement that delivery services could not keep up with demand, suggesting that supermarkets be allowed to open with extended hours while being monitored by municipal authorities to prevent overcrowding.
Earlier this week, the head of the Syndicate of Supermarket Owners, Nabil Fahed, told L’Orient Today that the body was proposing that food stores open their doors to customers and people be allowed to apply for permission to visit them through the state’s COVID-19 Impact travel permission app.
Since the first coronavirus lockdown came into force last March, the government has been criticized for failing to provide the most vulnerable people with adequate financial support. The need for aid has only increased since then.
For Khalife, the absence of financial support is one of two main elements missing from the Lebanese authorities’ approach to the pandemic. The other is the lack of a clearly stated goal for the lockdown.
On Tuesday afternoon, video footage shared on social media showed taxi drivers briefly scuffling with soldiers from the Lebanese Army outside Beirut airport, as they protested lockdown measures that only allow drivers sent by approved quarantine hotels to transport passengers.
As soldiers attempted to clear the protest, pushing drivers backward, shouts of “we will not move” and “we need to eat” could be heard.
Following the altercation, airport security issued a statement saying that they had explained to the drivers that only prebooked hotel shuttles were allowed to operate at the airport but that the drivers had “insisted on blocking the road.”
Taxi drivers, many of whom depend on day-to-day earnings to provide for their families, have not been exempted from the lockdown measures. Since the beginning of this year, two public transport workers have attempted to self-immolate over deteriorating economic conditions.
The taxi drivers’ union has sent a letter to President Aoun, union head Marwan Fayyad said, requesting that drivers be allowed to work on the basis of the “odd-even” rule, which allows cars to drive on alternate days according to the last number on their license plate.
“If taxi drivers work, they eat; if they don’t work, they don’t eat,” Fayyad said.