PHOTO
BEIRUT: The Health Ministrys Scientific Committee recommended Monday that Lebanon go into a two week lockdown as the authorities struggle to divert a second wave of coronavirus cases.
We cannot surrender at this stage. We will continue to sound the alarm and must strengthen the preventative measures against coronavirus, Health Minister Hamad Hasan said at a news conference after the committees meeting.
We recommended that the country be closed for two weeks, with the exception of the airport."
Hasan added that the Health Ministrys Disaster Management Center would soon be activated at Rafik Hariri University Hospital so that it is operational 24 hours a day. This measure is being taken following the failure of a number of hospitals to receive patients, he said.
Hasans remarks come after Interior Minister Mohammad Fahmi said Sunday that prison sentences of up to three years may be given to people who intentionally contribute to spreading coronavirus.
Speaking to local channel Al-Jadeed, Fahmi said, The situation is worse than bad, and added, The loss of control is a result of indifference to public safety.
Despite a sharp increase in case positivity since the beginning of July, particularly when local infections are isolated from imported cases, Fahmi said, "there is no talk about returning to the odd-even system, whereby vehicles may only be driven on certain days of the week.
Fahmi said the governments coronavirus committee was scheduled to meet Monday and it would implement strengthened and severe measures to prevent the spread of the disease, including possible prison terms of between six months and three years. The longer sentences will be meted out to those who deliberately infect others, he indicated.
Lebanons prisons are notoriously overcrowded, with prison riots breaking out in April over fears that coronavirus would spread rapidly among inmates if it were to enter prisons. Cabinet in April moved to expedite the release of prisoners with less than six months on their sentence and pardon those who had finished their sentences but remained in detention because they had not paid fines.
Fahmi said Sunday that not a single case of COVID-19 case had yet been detected in Lebanese prisons.
He said that other strengthened measures authorities were taking to curb the virus spread included banning the smoking of nargileh in cafes and restaurants as well as prohibiting wedding ceremonies.
He indicated that Lebanons international airport would not be closed, but added that there is a discussion around reducing the number of arrivals.
A balance must be found between the economic situation and countering coronavirus, he explained. Here, we must remember the [preventative] measures that weve been constantly talking about.
Fahmi said in comments published by Al-Joumhouria Monday that 1,117 fines were issued Saturday to people for not wearing masks and to establishments that were operating without applying the required health precautions.
Fahmi went on to say that the biggest security fear currently was the repercussions of the economic situation, which has seen the local currency lose more than 80 percent of its value on the black market.
The current security situation in Lebanon is under control and coherent, and preventative security measures have been taken in anticipation of Daesh [ISIS members] entering from Syria. Around 150 [people] were detained from among their families in Lebanon, he told Al-Jadeed Sunday. The fear is not from those who intend to slip surreptitiously into Lebanon, but the fear today is from the repercussions of the economic situation.
Copyright 2020, The Daily Star. All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
