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- On Wednesday, taxi drivers clashed with soldiers in front of the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut
BEIRUT: The Lebanese Health Ministry鈥檚 Scientific Committee on Combating the Coronavirus Pandemic has recommended extending lockdown by at least two weeks.
In the past week, the country registered a new record for daily coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases. More than 78,812 cases were recorded in the past 20 days, which has led doctors to conclude that Lebanon has lost control over the virus.
Sixty-one new deaths were announced on Tuesday, a record high in Lebanon. The Higher Defense Council is expected to hold an emergency session on Thursday to assess the situation.
On Wednesday, taxi drivers clashed with soldiers in front of the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut. Taxi drivers had previously blocked the road leading to the airport with their vehicles, protesting the effect of lockdown measures on their work.
The army intervened to reopen the road. Some protesters were injured after being beaten with rifle butts.
The airport鈥檚 security command said: 鈥淒ue to the lockdown and curfew in place, taxi drivers are banned from operating without permission. The current measures to transport travelers at the airport are temporary and everything will go back to normal once the lockdown is over. However, the command will not allow the airport鈥檚 security to be jeopardized for any reason.鈥�
Bshara Al-Asmar, head of the General Labor Union, said: 鈥淎s health and official authorities are insisting on extending the lockdown period, the Lebanese state, bodies and ministries must coordinate with the union, economic commissions and civil society to find a mechanism to support employees and daily workers of the private sector who are not getting paid during the lockdown, as well as daily and hourly-paid workers in the public sector, low-income and self-employed persons who depend on their daily work to earn their living.鈥�
Al-Asmar urged officials to 鈥渆xpedite the government鈥檚 formation to achieve a minimum of political stability, which would pave the way for the economic reforms the country urgently needs, as poverty and unemployment have reached every Lebanese house.鈥�
Dr. Firas Al-Abyad, director of the Hariri Governmental University Hospital, stressed 鈥渢he need to adopt and abide by extremely strict containment measures and implement effective and fast measures to track down the infected persons and those who have had contact with them, instead of only focusing on the numbers of available beds in hospitals.鈥�
Pending the decision of any lockdown extension, Hani Bohsali, head of the Syndicate of Importers of Foodstuffs in Lebanon, has called on 鈥渞elevant authorities not to improvise or rush into any decisions, especially those related to food security of citizens.鈥�
Bohsali added: 鈥淪even days after the beginning of the lockdown, the demand of food items, especially vegetables, bread and dairy products, has dramatically decreased, which is not the result of citizens鈥� decreasing need as much as their inability to buy the food items they need, after they have disappeared from the shelves.鈥�
Bohsali also shed light on the incapacity of 鈥渄elivery services, especially in supermarkets across Lebanon, to meet the needs of Lebanese.鈥�
He warned that 鈥渆xtending the lockdown and keeping supermarkets closed will increase citizen鈥檚 needs of foods and goods, which will eventually lead to congestion and overcrowding in supermarkets.
鈥淭his will be a similar situation to before the lockdown, risking citizens鈥� health again.鈥�