Lebanon has enforced an all-day curfew in a bid to contain a spiralling coronavirus outbreak.
This report from Zeina Karam of the Associated Press, with additional reporting by Fadi Tawil and Bilal Hussein. It’s an excellent report, so I’ve posted the whole thing:
AP:
It was a choice between containing a spiraling virus outbreak and resuscitating a dying economy in a country that has been in steady financial and economic meltdown over the past year. Authorities in Lebanon chose the latter.
Now, virus patients struggling to breathe wait outside hospitals — hoping for a bed or even a chair to open up. Ordinary people share contact lists of oxygen suppliers on social media as the the critical gas becomes scarce, and the sound of ambulances ferrying the ill echoes through Beirut. Around 500 of Lebanon’s 14,000 doctors have left the crisis-ridden country in recent months, according to the Order of Physicians, putting a further strain on existing hospital staff.
On Thursday, Lebanese authorities swung the other way: They began enforcing an 11-day nationwide shutdown and round-the-clock curfew, hoping to blunt the spread of coronavirus infections spinning out of control after the holiday period.
The curfew is the strictest measure Lebanon has taken since the start of the pandemic. Previous shutdowns had laxer rules and were poorly enforced. Now, residents cannot leave their homes, except for a defined set of reasons, including going to the bakery, pharmacy, doctor’s office, hospital or airport — and for the first time they must request a permit before doing these things. Even supermarkets can only open for delivery.
While Lebanon still somehow managed to keep cases to an average of fewer than 100 per day until August, it now leads the Arab world in number of cases per million people. Today, the number of daily COVID-19 deaths is more than 13 times what it was in July. On Jan. 9, over 5,400 infections were reported, a record for the small country. Overall, Lebanon has registered nearly 232,000 cases and 1,740 deaths, according to the Health Ministry.
While its neighbors begin vaccinating their populations — including Israel whose campaign promises to be among the world’s speediest — Lebanon has yet to secure a first batch of shots. Once a leader in the health sector among Middle Eastern countries, Lebanon has been stymied in its effort to get vaccines by repeated bureaucratic delays partly due to the fact that it has a caretaker government.
Parliament is expected to meet Friday to vote on a draft law to allow importing the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, with the first deliveries expected to arrive next month.
Sami Hanna, a 42-year-old businessman who was waiting for his turn to enter a pharmacy earlier this week, looking for pain relievers, anti-depressants and blood pressure medicine for his elderly parents, said:
This is the result of deliberate decisions made by irresponsible and immoral politicians. It is too little too late.
The surge in coronavirus cases began in late August, a few weeks after the massive explosion at the Beirut port that destroyed parts of the capital, including several hospitals with virus patients.
The explosion was caused by a fire that detonated nearly three tons of poorly stored ammonium nitrate that had been sitting in a port warehouse for years — the kind of mismanagement that is typical of a corrupt political class that fails to provide even basic services for its people.
The virus surged in the chaos of inundated hospitals, funerals and protests that followed.
Further complicating efforts to rein in the virus, politicians have been unable to agree on a new government since the old one resigned in the wake of the port explosion, effectively ensuring the country’s continued unraveling.
But in December, as most governments around the world tightened lockdowns, Lebanon went the other way, allowing restaurants and nightclubs to reopen with barely any restrictions in place. An estimated 80,000 expats flowed to the country to celebrate Christmas and New Year with loved ones — many of them Lebanese who skipped visiting in the summer because of the devastation wrought by the explosion.
Hanna Azar, owner of a money transfer and telephones shop, said:
The holiday season should have been the time for lockdown. The season of crowds, shopping and parties. They opened it to allow dollars into the country and now they want to close. Especially in this economic crisis, people don’t have money to eat.”
Many hospitals have now reached maximum capacity for coronavirus patients. Some have run out of beds, oxygen tanks and ventilators. Others have halted elective surgeries.
Last week, Lebanon imposed a 25-day nationwide lockdown and a nighttime curfew to limit the spread of the virus, but many sectors were exempted and enforcement was lax, as in the past. Many businesses, including hair salons, welcomed customers behind shuttered storefronts. In some areas of north and south Lebanon, it was business as usual.
With hospitals on the brink of collapse, the government then ordered an 11-day nationwide curfew starting Thursday, triggering three days of mayhem as crowds of shoppers emptied shelves in supermarkets and bakeries.
On Thursday, police manned checkpoints around the country, checking motorists’ permission to be on the road.
Halim Shebaya, a political analyst, said the government still has no clear strategy and cautioned that it would be difficult to bring the numbers down this late in the game. He said:
The main issue now is the absence of trust in the government and authorities and managing a pandemic necessitates the presence of public trust in measures taken by the authorities.
Still, Rabih Torbay, who heads Project HOPE, an international global health and humanitarian organization, said time is of essence and urged authorities to take any step that might help curb infections. He said:
Every day that goes by the country is sliding further into the abyss.
More than 30 inmates have tested positive for the coronavirus in a prison in Palermo, Sicily, writes my colleague Lorenzo Tondo.
The news has sparked a row in Italy, where many of the prisons are overcrowded. According to a report from the prison administration department, there are currently over 600 inmates who have tested positive for covid in Italy.
There are also 650 prison officers who are currently positive. The mayor of Bergamo, one of the cities most affected by Covid during the first wave, has urgently asked the government to vaccinate the inmates before the outbreaks take hold inside the prisons.
During the first wave, more than 70 prisons were struck by fire and destroyed, in just one weekend - March 7-9, after the government announced a ban on visits between inmates and their relatives, due to the pandemic. The riots caused 13 deaths among inmates and dozens of injuries. Several media in the country, citing sources within the prisons, suggested the riots were orchestrated by the mafia.
UK bans travel from Brazil and other South American countries
The UK has taken the “urgent decision” to ban arrivals into the country from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. Incoming flights from these countries will stop tomorrow, said UK transport minister Grant Shapps.
Travel from Portugal to the UK will also be suspended “given its strong travel links with Brazil – acting as another way to reduce the risk of importing infections”, said Shapps. There will be an exemption for hauliers travelling from Portugal to allow transport of essential goods.
I’ve taken the urgent decision to BAN ARRIVALS from ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, BOLIVIA, CAPE VERDE, CHILE, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR, FRENCH GUIANA, GUYANA, PANAMA, PARAGUAY, PERU, SURINAME, URUGUAY AND VENEZUELA – from TOMORROW, 15 JAN at 4AM following evidence of a new variant in Brazil. 1/3
Travel from PORTUGAL to the UK will also be suspended given its strong travel links with Brazil – acting as another way to reduce the risk of importing infections. However, there is an exemption for hauliers travelling from Portugal (only), to allow transport of essential goods.
This measure does not apply to British and Irish Nationals and third country nationals with residence rights – but passengers returning from these destinations must self-isolate for TEN DAYS along with their households 🏠 3/3
In Russia, some regions are proposing to relax Covid-19 restrictions such as mandatory mask-wearing and other incentives for Russians who receive the vaccine made in the country.
From Reuters:
Russia, which has the world’s fourth highest number of COVID-19 cases, began large-scale inoculations with its Sputnik V vaccine last month and President Vladimir Putin has said the programme should be made available to all Russians next week.
On Thursday, the governor of the far eastern Sakhalin region proposed distributing badges to people who have had the vaccine allowing them to no longer wear face masks.
Businesses such as hairdressers or fishing plants could also be officially declared “green zones” once all of their staff have had the jab, the governor, Valery Limarenko, said. On social media he added:
We have to return to life as fast as possible.
In Moscow, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has told students and pensioners that their social cards, which grant them free or cheaper public transport but were frozen during the pandemic, will be unblocked once they have the vaccination.
Moscow residents say the number of people signing up for the vaccine is picking up, having been slow just a few weeks ago.
Pavel, a 34-year-old Muscovite, told Reuters there was no queue when he arrived for his first jab of the two-dose vaccine in late December, but that the clinic was packed when he returned for the second jab on Wednesday.
Russia on Thursday reported 24,763 new COVID-19 cases in the previous 24 hours, pushing the national tally to almost 3.5 million since the pandemic began. The death toll stands at 63,940 people.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will be vaccinated for Covid-19 live on television later on Thursday, a spokesman for his ruling AK party said, in the hope that it will combat any public doubts over the effectiveness of the vaccine.
Reuters reports:
Turkey began administering the shots developed by China’s Sinovac to health workers on Thursday, as it rolls out a nationwide vaccination programme against the disease that has killed more than 23,000 people in the country. It has so far vaccinated more than 200,000 health workers.
Erdoğan will receive the vaccine on live television after meetings with AK party officials, spokesperson Omer Celik told a news conference in Ankara.
A man wearing a face mask reads a magazine in the sun outside a cafe in Lisbon. Portugal’s government has ordered a lockdown, starting Friday, after a steady resurgence of virus infections during the past few weeks. Photograph: Armando Franca/AP
The state government of Para in northern Brazil is banning the entry of vessels from neighbouring Amazonas state in a bid to contain the spread of Covid-19, citing a rise in cases and identification of a new variant of the virus in Amazonas.
Amazonas state capital Manaus was one of the worst-hit Brazilian cities in the first wave of the virus last year and is creaking badly again in the second wave. Concern is also mounting for the state’s indigenous people in remote areas up and down the Amazon River.
“We are publishing a state decree tomorrow prohibiting the circulation of boats with passengers from the neighboring state of Amazonas,” Para governor Helder Barbalho said in a video messaged published on social media late on Wednesday.
“This is a preventive and fundamental measure so that we can prevent the spread of contagion within the state of Para and subsequent health problems in the face of the pandemic. Therefore, I inform everyone that starting tomorrow [Thursday] our borders will be closed to the state of Amazonas,” he added.
Para’s state government said there are still no restrictions on air travel to and from Amazonas, but this is under discussion. The decree published Thursday in the official state gazette did not mention overland travel.
The state of Amazonas, where nearly 6,000 people have died from Covid-19, is now suffering a devastating second wave that is pushing emergency services to a breaking point.
So many were infected in Manaus during the first wave that some scientists thought the city of two million people might have been approaching herd immunity. But that projection has proved well wide of the mark.
Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, has consistently downplayed the gravity of Covid-19, calling it “a little flu” and criticising lockdowns and social distancing measures. He has argued that lockdowns damage Brazil’s economy and leave many out of work.
Many states issued tough lockdown and quarantine measures last year but have since relaxed them.
A gravedigger works at the Parque Taruma cemetery amid the coronavirus outbreak in Manau, one of the worst in the country. Photograph: Bruno Kelly/Reuters
Brazil is to start its coronavirus vaccine programme next Thursday, senator Nelsinho Trad said, the most concrete forecast yet for the country’s widely criticised vaccine rollout.
Trad told Reuters he had been informed by mayors who had spoken with the health minister Eduardo Pazuello.
The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has been lambasted for overseeing the world’s second deadliest coronavirus outbreak after the US, is under mounting pressure as a second wave of infections surpasses the first.
The health ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The government has declined to give an official start date, but has said inoculations could not begin before 20 January.
Two vaccines – one made by AstraZeneca and another developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech – will form the bedrock of the government’s vaccination plan. Both have applied for emergency use in Brazil, with health regulator Anvisa expected to decide on Sunday whether to authorise them.
Vaccination of the country’s population will take 16 months at most, the deputy health minister Elcio Franco said at a news conference on Wednesday.
Brazil is sending a plane to import 2m doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, made by India’s Serum Institute, and has already imported 6m doses of the Sinovac vaccine.
Sweden reports record number of daily coronavirus deaths
Sweden, whose unorthodox pandemic strategy placed it in the global spotlight, reported a record number of Covid-19 deaths for a single day on Thursday, taking the total toll above 10,000, although new infections appear to be easing.
The country of 10 million inhabitants registered 351 more deaths since Wednesday, statistics from the public health agency showed, and reported 6,580 new coronavirus cases, with the daily number trending lower since late December.
Some 10,185 people have now died in Sweden from Covid-19 since the pandemic began, it said.
The latest number of deaths are likely to have occurred over several days and weeks, with many from the Christmas period being registered with a significant delay.
Public health agency official Karin Tegmark Wisell told a news conference that while the number of new cases showed some signs of having plateaued, the death toll would continue to mount.
We sadly expect that the increase will continue given the high level of contagion in the country.
Authorities said that the situation was still strained in the healthcare system around the country with a few exceptions where there has been an improvement.
Around 20% of available intensive care beds are free, though the situation varies in different regions.
The death rate per capita in Sweden, which avoided harsh lockdowns, is several times higher than that of its Nordic neighbours but lower than several European countries that opted for lockdowns.
