Covid-19: Faced with an explosion in the number of cases, Lebanon is preparing for drastic measures
A nurse cares for a patient with Covid-19 at Rafic Hariri hospital in Beirut on November 13, 2020 (illustrative image).
AFP - JOSEPH EID
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Lebanese Prime Minister Hassane Diab is due to chair the National Commission for the fight against the coronavirus on Monday, January 4, which should decide to reconfigure the country.
A measure dictated by the skyrocketing infections, with 2,500 contaminations in 24 hours, this Saturday, bringing to nearly 187,000 the number of cases for a population of six million inhabitants, including 1.5 million displaced Syrians .
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With our correspondent in Beirut,
Paul Khalifeh
Long lines of cars, sometimes extending over more than a kilometer, formed this Saturday, January 2 in front of laboratories and hospitals approved to perform the PCR test for Covid-19.
After celebrating Christmas and the New Year without restraint, the Lebanese realize the extent of the disaster.
The number of coronavirus contaminations has skyrocketed in recent days and is expected to explode in the next two weeks.
But already, hospitals are saturated.
The intensive care units are 90% full and "
patients are queuing in the emergency room while waiting for a bed
", according to the president of the union of private hospitals.
The sick are starting to be sent to the provinces.
The Prime Minister's adviser for health affairs, Petra Khoury, indicates that more than 70% of positive cases are due to "
gatherings and private end-of-year celebrations
".
Faced with the risk of collapse of the health system, the authorities are moving towards
a third confinement
coupled with very severe measures.
A general closure of the country for three weeks is envisaged from January 7 with the establishment of a curfew and the end of all non-vital economic activities.
The schools, which were to reopen their doors face-to-face on Monday, will resume distance education.
The vaccine
is expected in February.
Lebanon has reserved two million doses, covering nearly 20% of the population.
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Lebanon
Coronavirus
Health and medicine