Lebanese police remove Beirut protest camp

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by middleeastmonitor.com -- Lebanese security forces cleared away a protest camp in central Beirut on Saturday and reopened roads blocked by demonstrators since protests against the governing elite started in October, Reuters reports. The camp centred around Martyrs Square had mostly fallen dormant in recent months as the protests waned. Lebanon this week tightened measures to restrict movement as part of its effort to curb the spread of coronavirus. Security forces began pulling down tents on Friday night, meeting resistance from several dozen protesters who were still camped out. One protester set himself on fire before being quickly smothered in blankets by members of the security forces, a Reuters witness said. On Saturday, a handful of protesters took away furniture used during the sit-in. Although Martyrs’ Square was reopened to traffic, a security source said roads leading to the nearby Riyad al-Solh Square remained closed.

The government declared a medical emergency on March 15 to prevent the spread of coronavirus. READ: Lebanon’s leading coronavirus hospital stages second protest in three weeks This week it banned people from leaving their homes from 7pm to 5am. Lebanon has recorded 412 cases of coronavirus and eight deaths. Martyrs’ Square was a focal point of large nationwide protests that erupted on Oct. 17. Fuelled by the corruption and bad governance of Lebanon’s ruling elite, the protests cut across sectarian divisions and led to Saad al-Hariri quitting as prime minister, toppling his government. Lebanon has sunk deep into a long-brewing economic crisis since October. The heavily-indebted state this month declared it could not meet its foreign debt repayments. The local currency has sunk more than 40% against the dollar.

Lebanese government prepares to repatriate citizens

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by middleeastmonitor.com -- The government in Lebanon is preparing to fly citizens stranded abroad by the coronavirus pandemic back to Beirut, Minister of Information Manal Abdul Samad said on Thursday. “Those Lebanese abroad who want to return to Lebanon after 12 April must fill in forms and a mechanism will be devised before 30 March to facilitate bank transfers to them,” she explained. “They should communicate with our embassies to report their situation and needs.” Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti confirmed the news in an interview with local channel MTV, noting that no Lebanese citizen will be allowed to return before they are tested for Covid-19 and it is confirmed that they do not have or carry the disease. “Any infected person can be an unexploded bomb for those returning on the same flight,” he explained. Lebanese students overseas and in financial difficulties will also be eligible to apply for money transfers from the government, added Hitti.

Lebanese banks have been enforcing harsh capital controls on accounts since October, only allowing depositors to withdraw as little as $100 per week as the country faces its worst economic and financial crisis since the end of the civil war in 1990. Hitti noted that students whose families are unable to support them financially because of the current situation will be supported by the government. Lebanon has also extended the state of “general mobilisation” until 12 April and added new measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

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Life under lockdown in Paris and Beirut

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by Naharnet -- Information Minister Manal Abdul Samad on Thursday explained what the government intends to do regarding the Lebanese citizens who want to return to their country due to the global coronavirus crisis. “The Lebanese abroad who want to return to Lebanon after April 12 must fill in forms and a mechanism will be devised before March 30 to facilitate bank transfers to them,” Abdul Samad said in remarks reported by MTV. They should “communicate with the embassies to report their situation and needs,” Abdul Samad added.

 by globalnewshut.com -- Germaine K. Curran --PARIS: France’s Lebanese neighborhood speak about confinement throughout the pandemic and the place they might quite be France is dwelling to about 250,000 Lebanese — college students, entrepreneurs, businessmen, bankers, architects, medical doctors, surgeons, restaurateurs, hoteliers, nurses and orderlies. Arab Information requested a variety of them concerning the lockdown in France and whether or not they felt safer in France than in Lebanon. Most of these interviewed felt that the French state was extra involved with the well being and well-being of its residents and extra prepared to compensate firms for losses incurred than the Lebanese state, which is overwhelmed with chapter and money owed and is unable to make sure even the bottom requirements of residing for its residents.

Ziad Asseily, co-owner of the Liza eating places in Paris and Beirut along with his spouse Liza, is now confined to dwelling in Paris. “I used to be in Beirut and I went again to Paris to be with my spouse Liza and my daughter simply earlier than the closure of Beirut airport. I might say that I really feel safer in Paris than in Beirut for the struggle in opposition to coronavirus as a result of in France now we have a complete authorities that manages the state of affairs. In Lebanon, folks should depend on themselves to face this disaster,” he stated. “Throughout my keep in Lebanon, I met some mates who took the initiative to abide by the internationally imposed prevention measures lengthy earlier than the Lebanese authorities imposed them. Residents resorted to dwelling confinement even earlier than the federal government determined to droop worldwide flights. They understood that it was the appropriate step to take, to isolate oneself.”

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Lebanese Coronavirus Patient Dies as Four Recover

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by Naharnet -- A Lebanese coronavirus patient died on Wednesday as four others recovered, the state-run Rafik Hariri University Hospital announced. The fatality raises the country’s death toll from the pandemic to six. Twenty patients have recovered until the moment according to a statement issued by RHUH. All the other patients at the hospital are in stable condition except for three who are critical, the hospital added. MTV meanwhile identified the sixth fatality as a 46-year-old man who owns a shop in Bourj Hammoud, saying he had several health problems prior to his infection with coronavirus. A statement issued at noon by the Health Ministry said the country’s virus cases had surged to 333 after the confirmation of 29 cases over a period of 24 hours

Lebanese MP unveils Lebanese-made ventilator to aid coronavirus battle

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by arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: Lebanese MP Neemat Frem revealed a ventilator prototype on Wednesday, two weeks after launching an initiative to build one with a group of specialized engineers and doctors. Frem said: "The machine, which will benefit the country’s intensive care units, was built according to high specifications and accurate, advanced and versatile technologies.” He was accompanied at the unveiling by Dr. Fadlo Sayegh, the head of the Anesthesiology and Reanimation Department at Notre Dame University Hospital in Jounieh.

The ventilator was created by the engineering and technical team of Phoenix Co., which is affiliated with INDEVCO Industrial Group, headed by Frem. “This Lebanese invention will be tested very soon. We will then work of making larger quantities of the ventilators if needed,” Frem said, noting that “initiatives like these highlight the strength of our society and our people’s high level of social responsibility. we will be preparing for the worse in coordination with the Ministry of Industry, which is bringing together all the initiatives and relevant ministries.” “We are also working on manufacturing pre-fabricated isolation rooms, field hospitals and large quantities of medical face masks. “What facilitated the manufacturing of the ventilator is the guidelines that were set by the UK in order to deal with the novel coronavirus. We adhered to these guidelines and even went beyond them,” Frem added.

Cities in crisis to defy coronavirus quarantines

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(MENAFN - Asia Times) TRIPOLI — On the eve of a nationwide Covid-19 lockdown, a group of men blocked off the modern gates of Tripoli, the stretch of highway leading to Lebanon's second-largest city. It was March 17, and the country's neglected northern metropolis, which looks out to the Mediterranean and borders Syria, still had not recorded any novel coronavirus cases. The impoverished protesters were incensed the government was threatening their livelihoods with a nationwide lockdown. 'Someone came to me asking for 1,000 LBP (50 cents) because he can't even buy bread for his kids. I had a package, so I gave it to him and kept three slices for my own kids. This is where we're at!? Isn't it shameful!' one man cried out in a video filmed on a mobile phone. 'I swear to God, I saw a guy sell his cooking gas canister to buy milk for his kids!' A young man, a struggling taxi driver in the city, lambasted the government for waiting a month after the first Covid-19 case was flagged to cut off air travel. 'If they were smart, they would have shut down the airport from the beginning, because it came from the airport, not the land border,' he said.

Lebanon's first cases of coronavirus were citizens flying back from Shiite religious pilgrimages to Iran, with the first positive test result announced February 21. At the time, Iran was not yet a global epicenter for Covid-19 – with less than two dozen cases – but in the three-and-a-half weeks that followed, alarm grew over daily flights from Qom and other Iranian cities. Residents of Tripoli, with its population overwhelmingly Sunni, appeared initially more insulated, but the Beirut-based outbreak has since made its way up the coast and to the mountainous districts above the city. Other cases later arrived via Egypt. On Tuesday, the confirmed cases had risen above 300. 'The government didn't act from the beginning. Now they want to fix it and be smart. So they put us in this health lockdown,' said the taxi driver. 'But if you want to do a lockdown, you need to give people the means to survive it. Tripoli isn't Beirut, we're living day by day.' 'They're saying it's going to be a 15-day shutdown,' another man chimed in. 'How are people supposed to eat if their shops are closed and they don't have work?'

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