Lebanon decided on Monday, January 11, to impose a total curfew for eleven days from Thursday and to limit flights from high-risk countries, in an attempt to stem the skyrocketing spread of the new coronavirus.
Read also: Lebanon: Beirut's hospitals almost saturated in the face of the coronavirus
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It is forbidden to go out in the street and on the roads between 5 am on Thursday January 14, 2021 and 5 am on Monday January 25,
" according to a press release issued after a meeting of the Board of Governors of defense.
The Lebanese will therefore not be able to leave their homes during this period, not even to shop for food, exercise or walk their pets.
There are some exceptions for health workers, journalists, food workers and other workers deemed essential.
The country had already been the subject of a containment measure since January 7, with a night curfew from 6 p.m.
Land and sea borders will be closed to all travelers during these eleven days, unless they have an ad hoc visa.
The number of passengers arriving at Beirut airport will be lowered to 20% of the January 2020 level. Travelers from Baghdad, Istanbul and Adana in Turkey, Cairo and Addis Ababa will be forced into a quarantine of seven days in a hotel, at their expense.
With a PCR test on arrival in Lebanon and another six days later.
This tightening of restrictions comes after the multiplication of calls from health service officials for stricter measures in the face of hospital saturation.
Patients have had to wait hours in the emergency room for hours before getting an intensive care bed.
Some have even been forced to seek treatment at home or in their car.
The small country of six million inhabitants has recorded 222,391 cases, including 1,629 deaths.
And it continued to break records, with a peak of 5,440 new Covid-19 cases on Friday.
With a 70% increase in contaminations compared to the previous week, Lebanon is now one of the countries experiencing one of the strongest increases in the world, according to figures compiled by AFP.
It comes behind countries like Portugal (+ 73%), Nigeria (+77) and Ireland (+ 190%).
The country is due to receive its first delivery of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in February.
