Health experts in Lebanon sound the alarm as COVID-19 cases skyrocket

 Health sector experts warned Saturday that Lebanon is heading to a "catastrophic" health situation after a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 cases during the festive period that left hospitals close to reaching their maximum capacity.

Petra Khoury, the caretaker advisor for health affairs, told AFP that the National Committee to Combat COVID-19 met Saturday and issued a recommendation to the authorities to impose a new lockdown in the country for at least three weeks.

In turn, the Parliamentary Public Health Committee urged the authorities to take the same measure.

Lebanon has witnessed several closures since February 2020, the most recent of which was in November. However, restrictions were later eased, which led to a significant increase in the number of injuries during the holidays.

Thursday, Lebanon recorded more than 3,500 new COVID-19 cases, its highest daily toll. The total number of cases has reached 183,888 so far, according to the official toll, including 1,466 deaths, out of a population of about six million, including about 1.5 million refugees.

Saturday, the head of the Syndicate of Private Hospital Owners, Suleiman Haroun, spoke of a "catastrophic" situation, telling AFP that the 50 private hospitals in Lebanon that receive COVID-19 patients are "almost full."

He explained that these hospitals allocate 850 beds for coronavirus patients, including 300 in intensive care, saying that "patients are queuing up in the emergency room, waiting to secure a bed."

Petra Khoury, who heads the National Committee to Combat COVID-19, said, "The problem is that when a patient is admitted to intensive care, he stays there for three weeks," which delays the possibility of admitting other patients.

She added that "the special gatherings and parties that were organized on Christmas and New Year" contributed to a large extent to the increase in the number of injuries, explaining that they "constituted more than 70 percent of the positive cases" recorded in the past days.

She added that the intensive care units in Beirut hospitals are now almost 90 percent full.

Pending a decision from the authorities about the possibility of imposing a new closure, the Lebanese Red Cross expressed its fear of the worst.

"Many Beirut hospitals have asked us not to transfer patients to them. Therefore, we are transferring them to hospitals in the Bekaa (east) and Nabatiyeh (south)," the Secretary-General of the Lebanese Red Cross, George Kittana, told AFP.

In addition to the serious health crisis, Lebanon suffers from the worst economic crisis that has led to an increase in poverty at a rate of two times, according to the United Nations.

In February, Lebanon will receive its first shipment of anti-COVID-19 vaccines.