For fear of a "model that may set an example internationally," .. thus Lebanon enters a general closure to confront Corona

At Al-Tal Square in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, Khaled (46 years) was standing in front of his mobile cart to sell coffee, turning right and left to make sure that a security patrol did not pass, and he insisted on working stealthily before tightening the general lockdown procedures, as the state of health emergency will start from Thursday morning January 14, and will be punctuated by a complete curfew imposed by the authorities after the numbers of Coronavirus infections were recorded at record highs, at a time when most hospitals that committed to treating the injured arrived to their maximum capacity.

We exchanged a conversation with the citizen who was surrounded by a group of customers asking him for a cup of coffee for a thousand pounds (about 0.11 dollars) while they were on their way to the market to supply their homes, especially since the general closure will continue according to the decisions of the Supreme Defense Council until dawn on Monday, January 25 .

Khaled: I do not know how I will manage my family's expenses with the closure (Al-Jazeera)

"I am afraid of the need more than Corona." The coffee seller complains to Al-Jazeera Net, then opens his wallet to turn it over, saying, "I do not know how to manage with the closure because my daily income does not exceed 20 thousand pounds (about $ 2.2) with it I buy what is available of food for my family and was forced to borrow money. Even ration cartons do not reach all the poor. "

In Tripoli, which is the poorest city in Lebanon, the market is witnessing a state of overcrowding and crowding hours before the curfew, and the scene has pervaded all food cooperatives in the north, south, and Bekaa, and in the capital Beirut, which is what many likened to the state of panic people experience before the wars.

This case prompted health experts to express their fears that Lebanon would witness a difficult scenario as a result of mixing and crowding in the last three days. The head of the "Health Academic Meeting", Dr. Ismail Sukkariyah, also accused the authorities of committing "what simulates a described crime whose effects escalate due to random policies characterized by the absence of vision and confusion in implementing Decisions. "

Beirut at night during the curfew after six in the evening (Al-Jazeera)

Corona race

and Lebanon recorded more than 30 deaths daily, and the latest numbers of the Ministry of Health exceeded 1600 cases of Corona virus inside hospitals, including about 627 cases in intensive care and about 180 needing ventilators, and after the rate of positive examinations was recorded 13%, it exceeded 16.5% It is among the highest in the world, and the total number of injuries exceeded 231,936, and the number of deaths jumped to 1740.

The Director of Medical Care at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Joseph El-Helou, told Al-Jazeera Net, "Lebanon is rolling into the abyss" as a result of official and popular recklessness in the month of holidays at the end of 2020 by opening restaurants and reviving parties without controls, accusing the authorities of not responding at the time to calls for complete closure, as most countries of the world have done.

Therefore, El-Helou believes that the decisions of the general closure - which were not without some necessary exceptions - seem good on the face of it, but the lesson is implementation and "unless the Lebanese will accept a model that may be set as an example internationally instead of the Italian model."

He pointed out that the closure aims to enable the medical staff to catch their breath, accusing some private hospitals of not participating in the battle to protect against Corona, and he revealed that Lebanon, which has 127 private hospitals, receives fewer than 90 of them epidemic patients, and some provide a small number of beds that do not exceed two beds. Or three, as for the 32 government hospitals, 17 of them receive Corona patients, because the rest are not logistically equipped and there is work to develop a plan to rehabilitate them, according to El-Helou.

Hospitals exceeded their capacity due to the high cases of Corona (Al-Jazeera)

A health breakdown and the

reality of the situation, that private hospitals are complaining about the repercussions of the economic crisis at the level of the collapse of the national currency (the circulation of one dollar exceeded 8700 pounds) after a series of crises that hit the health sector, starting from the emigration of medical staff, to the explosion of the Beirut port, to the difficulty of importing medical equipment Depleted due to banking restrictions, these hospitals continue to demand dues for them that have been owed by the state for years, at a time when the Ministry of Health has been pressing them to open new departments for Corona patients, and it has previously warned against reducing the classification of every hospital that fails to receive the patients of the epidemic.

The number of intensive care beds allocated to Corona patients in private hospitals increased to 600, in addition to 200 in government hospitals, according to what was recently announced by Hamad Hassan, Minister of Health in the caretaker government.

A street in Beirut hours before the general closure (Al-Jazeera)

And the head of the Doctors Syndicate, Sharaf Abu Sharaf - to Al Jazeera Net - indicates that even if the hospitals increase the number of their beds, they will still suffer from an acute shortage of medical staff authorized to treat those infected with the virus.

According to Abu Sharaf's numbers, 10 doctors have died of the virus, 20 others are still in intensive care beds, and about 200 are in home quarantine, not to mention the emigration of more than 600 doctors and 1500 nurses in recent months, and the captain called on the authorities to increase the general closure period to 3 weeks, and to speed up the equipping of field hospitals Which arrived as an external gift to support the work of dilapidated hospitals.

As a result of the panic prevailing in the country, talk began about the interruption of oxygen equipment, and in this context, the head of the Medical Supplies Importers Syndicate, Salma Assi, confirmed to Al-Jazeera Net that the import companies requested a batch of 500 devices that will start arriving in succession at the end of this week, and indicated that their disappearance from the market is due to the demand for storage In large quantities at home, which threatens some Corona patients who need it.

Where is the vaccine?

Yesterday, Wednesday, January 13, the Parliamentary Health Committee approved a proposal for a law to regulate the use of medical products to combat the Corona pandemic, after successive sessions that had previously been held with representatives of Pfizer "so that Lebanon could import Corona vaccines and use them as an emergency, to lift responsibility for them for side effects." Not calculated, and protect it from any legal procedures that may be brought against it. "

The head of the Parliamentary Health Committee, Asim Araji, indicated to Al-Jazeera Net that there is a tendency to empty government hospitals exclusively for Corona patients, noting that government hospital beds do not exceed 20%, while private hospital beds reach 80%.

The MP said that there is an endeavor to reach a dose of vaccines before mid-February, provided that the sources are from different companies, and it is expected that a law regarding vaccines will be approved tomorrow Friday, in a session called by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, at a time when the Lebanese are awaiting the effects of the general closure. Under the weight of living challenges, thousands of people are unable to secure their livelihood.