BEIRUT: Lebanese people took to social media on Wednesday to call on the government and Prime Minister Hassan Diab to impose a state of emergency and a nationwide lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic.
Diab was also criticized for taking too long to ban flights from Iran, center of one of the worst outbreaks outside of China.
One Twitter user named Jessy said: “Let us declare a state of emergency in the country before it is too late, before we all lose a loved one, and before it all gets out of hand!”
Diab said Wednesday that Lebanon has suspended flights from Italy, South Korea, Iran and China, the countries hit hardest by the l coronavirus. The measures came as Lebanon announced its second death from COVID-19 in two days.
Several other users wrote “Lock down the entire country NOW” repeatedly and used the hashtag “Declare a state of emergency” was trending.
Taking it a step further, Lebanese news presenter at MTV, Nabila Awad, took it upon herself to tell it as it is and called on people to act as if there was a state of emergency in Lebanon, asking people to stay at home to avoid becoming infected.

“The government today has certain considerations and does not want to announce the state of the health emergency but here on MTV we want to address this specific issue to our audience and ask them to act responsibly and act as if there is a state of health emergency in Lebanon,” she said during a news broadcast. 
She called on people to be “responsible” and “stay in their homes as a type of quarantine.”
“The issue is really dangerous and from MTV we call on everyone to act as if there is a health emergency,” she added.
Social media users praised and thanked Awad for her intervention.
“It is very important to declare a state of emergency. The headline must remain as long (as possible), do not delete it, keep it permanently until the virus is contained. We congratulate you on this important step,”  Georges Ghorayeb said.
Meanwhile, Sarah Luna Makdissy thanked the channel and said “those who could care less about their health and wants to wander around and keep receiving planes from Iran, they are free to do so and endanger their lives but they are not free to infect others.”

GAZA CITY: Gazans have found in coronavirus an opportunity to ridicule their political and social reality.

Since the emergence of the virus and its rapid spread throughout the world, including the Arab region, activists on social media in Gaza have been deploying humor to highlight their deteriorating situation.

Fadel Suleiman said that the Gaza Strip is besieged to the point that “the coronavirus does not know how to enter,” in response to several statements issued by the Ministry of Health, which is run by Hamas in Gaza, saying that the enclave is free of the virus.

The majority of the 2 million population of the Gaza Strip live in what has been described as a “big prison,” after Israel imposed a tight siege after Hamas seized control of the Strip by armed force in mid-2007.

Marwa Abu Odeh described the coronavirus as a “blessing,” calling for the authorities in Gaza to close the Rafah crossing with Egypt.

Although the Ministry of Health in Gaza established a quarantine center at the Rafah crossing, which is the only outlet for 2 million Palestinians to the outside world, many have expressed little confidence in its ability to deal with the virus if it arrived.

Manal Ramadan said: “Coronavirus confirms that Gaza is devoid of the Ministry of Health . . . No need to panic.” She followed this post on her Facebook page with a “smiley” emoji.

Gaza hospitals suffer from a lack of capabilities and a permanent shortage of many types of drugs and medical supplies.

Issam Madi said in a post on Facebook: “Fear that the preparations are like the municipality’s preparations for the winter,” referring to the Gaza municipality’s failure to prevent flood losses.

Nahid Nashwan said: “If there was financial support for the affected areas of the coronavirus, the Hamas government would have declared Gaza fully sick.”

Abdullah Abu Sharkh, a retired teacher who was held several times in Hamas prisons, said: “I am terrified in Gaza of the coronavirus epidemic more than Hamas and Zionism . . . I do not fear death by itself, but I reject a stupid and ridiculous death.”

Doa’a Hassni, an activist opposed to the rule of Hamas, commented on a statement by a Hamas Ministry of Education official who had said: “The topic of the coronavirus has taken more than its size.” She responded by saying: “Behave guys, it’s just a virus that won’t be seen with the naked eye.”

Officials in the ministries in Gaza affiliated with Hamas in Gaza believe that the declaration of state of emergency by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is exaggerated and does not apply to Gaza, as it is devoid of coronavirus.

Although some people are taking the coronavirus seriously, and are stocking up on masks and sterile fluids that have either disappeared from most pharmacies or whose prices have risen, many others took advantage of the suspension of schools and universities and went to the beach and public parks.

“The Gaza tourist boats thanks the coronavirus,” said an official of the fishermen’s committees in the Federation of Agricultural Work Committees, Zakaria Bakr, commenting on the great demand for these boats to hire.

Yahya Wafi said: “Children and parents are very interested in amusement parks and public parks on the second day of the Happy Coronavirus Feast.”

Others saw school closures putting pressure on mothers. Mohamed El-Jamal said: “My wife says: ‘Within a week, if children didn’t return to schools, I will invent the coronavirus treatment’.”

Many have linked the virus to the deterioration of life in all walks of life in Gaza, due to the blockade, occupation and internal division.

As an expression of this deteriorating reality, Mohamed El-Burai said: “China has the coronavirus . . . We in Palestine have a virus that has conquered us, stole us, sold us and deserted us, and let us hate ourselves.”

Warda Dawood said: “Breaking . . . the infection of the first Gazan of coronavirus, which led to the death of the virus, because of the pressure and frustration that he found inside the poor Gazans . . . Coronavirus warns his fellows to avoid the whereabouts of Gazans.”
 

BEIRUT: Preventative measures in Lebanon were increased to limit the spread of coronavirus on Wednesday, after the country recorded an increase in the number of deaths and infections.

Illegal crossings between Lebanon and Syria in Hermel were closed by the military to prevent the transmission the virus to Lebanese territory “in light of the chaos in the health situation in Syria,” a Lebanese health official told Arab News.

The Syndicate of Owners of Restaurants, Cafés, Night-Clubs, and Amusements in Lebanon announced the closure of all facilities, with only delivery services still operating. Casino du Liban has closed, whilst services at mosques and churches have been postponed and sterilization procedures put in place across the country. Arab News has learned that media organizations have asked employees to work from home where possible.

The Syndicate of Dentists in Beirut called on dentists to “limit medical work to urgent and necessary treatments only.” The Federation of Trade Unions of Independent Interests and Public Institutions said members would stop going to work from Thursday to next Sunday.

A source at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Bizri, denied Rafik Hariri International Airport was to close, but he warned: “The country will close as part of a plan to combat the spread of the virus and mitigate gatherings as much as possible. University hospitals are cooperating with us and medical and health teams are ready to deal with cases and they are taking preventive measures to protect themselves.”

Lebanon’s second coronavirus victim, Maroun Karam, 55, died on Wednesday.

According to the minister of health’s office, Karam was “not suffering from health problems and it was found that his immune system was very weak. He did not travel but the infection was transmitted to him from a students who came from abroad.”

The number of recorded patients in Lebanon is now around 70, along with hundreds of people suspected of carrying the virus in quarantine. The Ministry of Health stated that Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut had 61 confirmed cases, with 9 confirmed cases in other university hospitals.

Rafik Hariri University Hospital said it believed: “The incidence of coronavirus will increase by 30 percent every day.” The University Hospital of Our Lady of Aid said that 10 of its employees were infected with the virus as a result of direct contact with an infected patient.

It has emerged, though, that the first case of the virus confirmed in Lebanon (a woman who had recently traveled to Iran) has made a full recovery. At least 37 percent of all cases have come from people who are suspected of having caught the virus abroad.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri took to Twitter to urge people to “close the doors in the face of corona (regardless of which) country it comes from, sisterly or friendly, far or near. The safety of the Lebanese should be above any consideration.”

In a statement, the head of the Lebanese Forces party, Samir Geagea, called for a “serious health emergency and the most appropriate precautionary measures.”

The Saudi Embassy in Lebanon announced that it was “coordinating with Middle East Airlines (MEA) to operate a flight on Saturday morning to King Khalid Airport in Riyadh, and another on Sunday morning to King Abdul Aziz Airport. for Saudi citizens wishing to return to the Kingdom.”

MEA announced that after obtaining special permission from the authorities in Saudi Arabia, it would operate 3 trips to and from Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dammam, to secure the return of Lebanese and Saudi nationals to their homelands.

The Kingdom had previously suspended all flights to Lebanon in light of the outbreak.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon Wang Kejian announced during his meeting with President Michel Aoun that his country was ready “to assist Lebanon in combating this epidemic.”

He said that the situation in China “is better than before, as a result of the measures taken by the Chinese authorities to restrict this epidemic and stop its spread.”
 

WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday called for Iran to release all American prisoners held in the country as the coronavirus outbreak reportedly spreads through its prisons.
“The United States will hold the Iranian regime directly responsible for any American deaths. Our response will be decisive,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
“Reports that COVID-19 has spread to Iranian prisons are deeply troubling and demand nothing less than the full and immediate release of all American citizens.
“Their detention amid increasingly deteriorating conditions defies basic human decency.”
Iran’s response to the deadly coronavirus outbreak, including temporarily releasing 70,000 prisoners, was “too little, too late,” a UN rights expert said Tuesday.
Javaid Rehman, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, said Tehran was trying to “fudge” its handling of the outbreak, one of the deadliest outside China, where the disease originated.
“The situation on coronavirus is highly disturbing within Iran,” Rehman told reporters at the UN in Geneva.
Iran on Tuesday reported 54 new deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest single-day toll since the start of the outbreak there. That brought the numbers killed in the country to 291 out of 8,042 infected.
The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan Online official news agency cited Asghar Jahangir, the head of Iran’s prisons organization, as saying that “about 70,000 prisoners” had been released in a bid to combat the outbreak.
Iran said in December it was ready for more prisoner swaps with the United States after it secured the return of scientist Massoud Soleimani in exchange for Xiyue Wang, a Chinese-born American held in the Islamic republic.
Decades-old tensions between Tehran and Washington have escalated steeply since 2018, when US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

BEIRUT: Lebanon announced its first death from coronavirus on Tuesday, with the country’s health minister warning the fatality marked a “turning point in dealing with the situation.”

The victim, Jean Khoury, 57, from Obeidat in Byblos, died in a Beirut hospital. He had returned to Lebanon from Egypt on Feb. 21, however confirmation of his infection was delayed because the World Health Organization had failed to declare Egypt a risk country.
“Khoury’s infection was confirmed five days after he came back from Egypt. He stayed in a Byblos hospital before being transferred to Rafik Hariri University Hospital (RHUH) in Beirut, which was equipped to receive coronavirus-infected patients. His condition remained stable until Monday,” said the Lebanese Minister of Health Hamad Hassan.
“This loss constitutes a turning point in dealing with the situation. Special measures will be adopted in the burial of coronavirus victims. We are required to be realistic in light of these developments,” Hassan added.
RHUH continues to receive dozens of suspected cases for testing each day.
According to the hospital’s reports, about 10 percent are admitted to quarantine while the rest are told to self-isolate at home for two weeks, the incubation period of the virus.
Three patients are still in a critical condition in the isolation unit, while the total number of confirmed cases rose to 52 on Tuesday, 11 more than the previous day, the hospital said.
Five of those work at a Byblos hospital and two others at a Beirut hospital, which the ministry believes is a significant development in terms of the spread of the virus.
Four university hospitals joined RHUH in carrying out coronavirus testing to speed up delivery of results in suspected cases.

“Two hundred tests are being conducted every day. This exceeds the capacity of RHUH’s  laboratory,” said Suleiman Haroun, head of the Private Hospitals’ Owners Syndicate.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Beirut sent 20 staff home to self-quarantine as “a preventive measure” until test results are issued.
The employees had joined a social event with a person who was found to be infected the following day.
Andrea Tenenti, official spokesperson of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, said that “all necessary preventive measures” have been taken to protect the 11,000 military and civilian peacekeepers against the virus.
“One of our soldiers stationed in the village of Maarakeh showed some symptoms after returning from Egypt.
“When our medical unit discovered this, we contacted the Lebanese authorities and quarantined all those who had been in contact with the soldier,” Tenenti said.
“Even when the tests came back negative, we imposed strict medical rules and measures on all our military and civilian personnel to prevent or reduce the spread of the virus.”
Lebanon’s ministries stepped up efforts to combat the spread of the virus, with the Ministry of Culture on Tuesday announcing that all museums will be closed.
Beirut closed all its public parks after children began playing there following the closure of schools.
Universities, cafes, cinemas and theaters have also been closed while people have been urged to stay at home and take preventive measures in the workplace.