Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced on Tuesday a new total lockdown, as of Saturday, to limit the spread of Covid-19.
His announcement followed a meeting of the Higher Defense Council, which was chaired by President Michel Aoun at the Baabda Palace.
“The whole country is in a critical situation. We cannot continue implementing the local closure plan. It did not achieve the required goal,” Diab told journalists.
“I know very well the extent of the economic damage caused by the closure, and I clearly hear the voices of economists and traders calling against the lockdown decision and its implications for their businesses,” he said, adding: “We no longer have other options to turn to. Therefore, today we have taken a decision to impose a full lockdown, from Saturday Nov. 14 until Sunday, Nov. 29.”
Speaking at the beginning of the meeting, Aoun said that new measures were necessary to contain the outbreak and allow health institutions to perform their duties.
On Monday, the head of the Doctors’ Syndicate, Sharaf Abu Sharaf, said that there were currently 17 doctors in intensive care, while three others died, and a hundred were isolating at home.
“If the numbers continue to rise, there will be no remaining staff to treat those infected,” he warned.
Abu Sharaf stressed that hospitals were saturated, adding that everyone “should cooperate to overcome this stage with the least possible damage.”
The lockdown decision was met with wide objections from economic bodies. The Lebanese Industrialists Association stressed its refusal to include factories within the new decision.
“Industrialists have tough obligations in terms of goods’ deliveries, especially to closed countries, and any breach of these obligations would entail judicial and penal disputes with foreign markets,” the association said in a statement on Monday.
The head of the General Labor Union, Beshara Al-Asmar, noted that the repercussions of a general lockdown would be disastrous for workers and economic bodies in the country. He called for “consultations between the concerned authorities to secure alternatives in light of the collapse of purchasing power.”
