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world news Diamars 12 Januari 2021

Lebanon to impose 24-hour curfew, hospitals run out of beds

(AP) — Lebanese authorities spread has yet to be felt, predicting
tightened a nationwide lockdown numbers will skyrocket in the com-
Monday, including an 11-day, 24- ing days, overwhelming health facili-
hour curfew, amid a dramatic ties in the country of nearly 6 million.
surge in coronavirus infections
and growing criticism of uncoor- Despite the nationwide lockdown
dinated policies many blame for announced last week, a soccer match
the spread of the virus. was allowed to take place in the north-
ern Tripoli province on Sunday with
News of the restrictions to be imple- an audience and was aired on TV.
mented starting Thursday morning
sparked panicked grocery buying as The spike in cases has exhausted the
people lined up outside of super- health care sector, prompting law-
markets to stock up, raising fears the makers and officials to call on the
crowds could further spread the vi- government to consider a 24-hour
rus. lockdown without exemptions, and
to shut down the airport.
Lebanon had only just announced a
nationwide lockdown last week. But Panicked shoppers swarmed super-
many, including the health minister markets following reports they would
and officials on a government com- only be allowed to take delivery or-
mittee, considered it to be too lenient ders amid the tightened lockdown. had reached 91.4%, with the high-
because it exempted many sectors, Long lines formed outside chain su- est in Beirut. Some 2,295 health care At the largest public hospital in Bei-
such as florists, plant nurseries and permarkets and in some cases argu- workers had been infected by Jan. 10, rut, Rafik Hariri University hospi-
factories. Hospitals, meanwhile, were ments broke out over shopping carts, up from 2,015 last week. tal, doctors and nurses were over-
running out of beds amid rapidly sparking fear the crowds could fur- whelmed with new patients and all
multiplying COVID-19 cases. ther spread the virus. Kayssar Mawad, director of a private 40 ICU beds were occupied. “We are
hospital in Zgharta in northern Leba- in the heart of the crisis,” said nurse
Critics have said uncoordinated and Merna Jumaa left a packed supermar- non, said he has been turning cases Therese Gobar.
hesitant policies wavering between ket in eastern Beirut pushing a cart away because there were no more
relaxing restrictions and shutting full of groceries but with no bread. beds. Out of 35 patients there with Jad Chaaban, a Lebanese economist
down were behind the failure to con- “We came to get bread. There was COVID-19, the illness caused by and political activist, tweeted that
tain the virus. already not a single piece of bread the virus, seven are in ICU, he said. Lebanon “is dying” and called it “an-
left,” she said, walking away with her Zgharta is one of the country’s hot- other chapter” of the “criminal in-
For instance, despite a rise in infec- mother. spots. competence” of the authorities.
tions, the government relaxed re-
strictions ahead of Christmas and The government declared a “state of “It is a difficult period,” said Mawad. Lebanon’s political class was facing a
New Year’s celebrations, hoping to health emergency” between Jan. 14- “We are refusing many cases. There wave of antigovernment protests be-
boost a crumbling local economy as 25 that includes a round-the-clock are no places, no more respirators.” fore the virus outbreak. The protest-
thousands of Lebanese expats arrived curfew. Lebanon’s caretaker prime ers blamed the long-serving political
in the country. Bars and nightclubs, minister said earlier that the country Since February, Lebanon has record- elite for mismanagement. Then, a
which had been ordered shut for has entered a “very critical zone” in ed more than 219,000 infections and massive explosion in August in Bei-
months, were allowed to open. the battle against the coronavirus 1,606 deaths. Hospitals have appealed rut’s port killed over 200 people and
to the government to turn all health injured thousands. The blast, caused
Daily infection rates have since hov- As of Sunday, the World Health Or- care facilities into locations for treat- by the ignition of explosive chemi-
ered above 3,000, hitting an all-time ganization said 81.7% of Lebanon’s ing coronavirus patients, saying all cals stored there for years, has been
high of over 5,000 last week. Doc- hospital beds were occupied and the 15,000 hospital beds are needed to blamed on gross negligence.
tors and experts say the extent of the intensive-care-unit bed occupancy meet the new surge.

Turkey, Greece to resume talks on disputes on Jan 25

(AP) — Turkey and Greece will resume talks ploratory talks would be held in Istanbul on Jan.
aimed at reducing tensions between the 25. The talks would be the 61st round of a long- Mitsotakis said that while the invitation for talks
neighbors on Jan. 25, Turkish and Greek offi- running process of negotiations between Greece hadn't yet come through the official procedure,
cials announced Monday, following this sum- and Turkey that aim to improve their often testy “I retain as a positive element that Turkey has ex-
mer’s dispute over maritime borders and en- relations. pressed the will for the process to start” and said it
ergy rights in the eastern Mediterranean. was time to set a specific date for the talks.
The NATO allies are at odds over a series of issues,
The announcement came hours after Turkish For- including territorial disputes in the Aegean Sea. “Greece will come to the exploratory talks, once
eign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu invited Greece to The two countries have come to the brink of war the date is finalized, also following the directions
restart talks aimed at resolving their disagreements three times since the mid-1970s. the European Council itself has given, which are
and also called for a meeting with his Greek coun- none other than to essentially continue where we
terpart, Nikos Dendias. Tensions flared this summer after Turkey sent a re- left off in March 2016, in other words to make
search vessel escorted by warships to prospect for progress, I hope, on the issue of determining the
Cavusoglu's invitation follows a decision by An- energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean in maritime boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean
kara, which faces sanctions from the European an area Greece says is over its own continental shelf and the Aegean.”
Union, to turn a new page in its troubled relations and where it claims exclusive economic rights.
with EU nations. Cavusoglu said Dendias had rejected an invitation
In December, the EU gave the green light for the by Albanian Minister Edi Rama to host a meeting
“Today ... we want to extend an open invitation to expansion of sanctions against Turkey over its ex- between the Greek and Turkish foreign ministers
Greece” Cavusoglu said. “We invite Greece to start ploration of gas reserves in waters claimed by EU in Tirana because of the coronavirus restrictions
exploratory talks, with the first meeting being held members Greece and Cyprus. but expressed hope that a meeting can take place in
in January.” the Albanian capital soon.
Earlier, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis
The foreign ministries of Turkey and Greece later said he had been informed of Cavusoglu’s com- “I hope Greece does not turn down this opportu-
issued separate statements saying the so-called ex- ments. nity,” Cavusoglu said.