As Cases Rise, Lebanon Seeks to Enforce COVID-19 Preventive Measures

Municipal workers spray disinfectant in a street in Beirut to counter the spread of the new coronavirus (AFP)
Municipal workers spray disinfectant in a street in Beirut to counter the spread of the new coronavirus (AFP)
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As Cases Rise, Lebanon Seeks to Enforce COVID-19 Preventive Measures

Municipal workers spray disinfectant in a street in Beirut to counter the spread of the new coronavirus (AFP)
Municipal workers spray disinfectant in a street in Beirut to counter the spread of the new coronavirus (AFP)

Lebanon’s security forces have boosted their measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 amid an increase in the number of cases.

The Ministry of Public Health announced on Monday the registration of 995 new Coronavirus infections, thus raising the cumulative number of confirmed cases to 62,944.

It also reported six death cases during the past 24 hours.

Caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi and the Coronavirus Follow-up Committee issued new preventive measures and procedures after a meeting held on Saturday.

The committee issued a new list of towns classified as dangerous and witnessing an increase in the number of cases.

It also reiterated the importance of wearing masks, warning that violators would be strictly fined.

All kinds of social events were banned in 79 towns and villages across the country while governmental and private institutions and schools in villages under lockdown were closed.

Last week, caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan stirred controversy after announcing that Lebanon would get the vaccine against COVID-19 through COVAX, an international initiative aimed at ensuring equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines, before the end of this year.

"The first quantity of vaccine will be available for 20 percent of the Lebanese," he said, adding the rest of the needed quantities will arrive in Lebanon in batches.

The minister’s statements surprised several medical and political officials.

“This does not reflect the international status of the vaccine, which the Russians promised to release and which drives several questions concerning its efficacy and its side effects,” former MP Dr. Ismail Sukkarieh said.

He explained that the vaccine has still not been licensed by the FDA and the World Health Organization.

“There is no doubt that the minister cares about the general health of citizens, however, the issue is complicated and requires sensitive information and making the right choices,” Sukkariyeh added.



UN Appalled by Extrajudicial Killings in Khartoum

A Sudanese army soldier gestures from the back of a vehicle as it drives past damaged cars lying along a street in Khartoum on Thursday (AFP photo) 
A Sudanese army soldier gestures from the back of a vehicle as it drives past damaged cars lying along a street in Khartoum on Thursday (AFP photo) 
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UN Appalled by Extrajudicial Killings in Khartoum

A Sudanese army soldier gestures from the back of a vehicle as it drives past damaged cars lying along a street in Khartoum on Thursday (AFP photo) 
A Sudanese army soldier gestures from the back of a vehicle as it drives past damaged cars lying along a street in Khartoum on Thursday (AFP photo) 

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Thursday said he was appalled by reports of widespread extrajudicial killings of civilians in Khartoum following its recapture by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on 26 March.

“I am utterly appalled by the credible reports of numerous incidents of summary executions of civilians in several areas of Khartoum, on apparent suspicions that they were collaborating with the Rapid Support Forces,” said Turk.

He then urged the commanders of the Sudanese Armed Forces “to take immediate measures to put an end to arbitrary deprivation of life.”

The UN Commissioner said his Office has reviewed multiple horrific videos posted on social media since 26 March, all of them apparently filmed in southern and eastern Khartoum.

“They show armed men – some in uniform and others in civilian clothes – executing civilians in cold blood, often in public settings. In some videos, perpetrators state that they are punishing supporters of RSF,” he said.

The RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has been battling the army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, since April 2023.

Last week the army said it had retaken full control of Khartoum after weeks of attacks on the capital by the paramilitaries, though Daglo said his forces had only “repositioned.”

On Thursday, Sudan's paramilitary said they downed an Antonov military plane, the fourth this month, belonging to the Sudanese army near Al Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur State.

The RSF published a video that they said showed the plane wreckage. It said in a statement that the plane dropped “dozens of barrel bombs on innocent civilians in Al Fasher and other Sudanese cities.”

Meanwhile, an activist group said that the RSF killed at least 85 people in one week during attacks south of the capital Khartoum.

“For the seventh consecutive day, the Janjaweed militias continue their violent attacks on villages... west of Jebel Awliya, resulting in the deaths of more than 85 people and the injury of dozens,” said the Sudanese resistance committee, referring to the RSF by the name of its precursor.

Bashir’s Deputy Released

Also on Thursday, Sudanese authorities released former First Vice President Bakri Hassan Saleh and Youssif Abdel Fattah, a former minister.

Saleh and Abdel Fattah are among some 30 officials who are standing trial for their involvement in the June 30, 1989 coup, that brought former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir to power.

SAF leader Abdel Fattah al Burhan issued the decision based on a judicial ruling that stated the two men need to receive treatment due to deteriorating health conditions.