Covid crisis in Lebanon

Mer som dette

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Note: there are no public transportations in Lebanon

Note: Electricity was already a problem in Lebanon : the State only assures half of the electricity availability, the other half is bought by the citizen from a private generator (monthly)

2 things to keep in mind

Lebanon was already in a huge economic crisis when Covid started

That crisis had been ongoing since 2019

That crisis had SEVERELY affected the Health System

Lebanon has a very small population: 6 million

Everything affects everyone very quickly

Vaccination

Despite severe economic constraints, Lebanon secured 6.3 million Covid-19 vaccine doses, largely due to unprecedented support from the international community

Went surprisingly well !

Ministry of Health led by Dr AbdulRahman BIZRI

Convinced a rather stubborn population that a vaccine is the only answer

Made an amazing job at trying to keep the corruption out of the vaccination campaign

Despite this progress, lacks the resources and the staff to fully operationalise and implement the national plan.

Private and nongovernmental actors fill the gaps.

International actors reactions

UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), UNICEF, and International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Sensitive topic in Lebanon: refugees

International actors worked on their vaccination

Discriminations in access to health, poverty, threats...

Support from

UN Relief and Works Agency

World Bank

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

WHO

Economic Impact

Degradation of 3 main fields

Job market

Non replacement of absent workers

Loss of opportunities

Non-payments of salaries

Economy

Purchasing power

People ran to make provisions

Gas prices became unstable

Gas stations closed because price changes every hour (to make profits)

Queues to get gas

Essentials

Electricity

Gas provisions were also made

Gas prices rose

Public electricity became almost unavailable

Private generators took the opportunity and made extraordinary benefits

Electricity bills became very high

Some people kept their expensive subscription

Extremely high prices : 1 subscription = 1 month salary

Some people stopped their subscriptions

Rotten food, no heating in the winter and no coolness in the summer, hygiene issues, badly stored drugs...

Prices became delusional

Food quality dropped

New health problems rose

Poverty rose

Medical

In Lebanon it is easy to get a drug without prescription

Penury of Covid treating drugs

Banks

Inflation became even worse

Salaries became obsolete

NGOs gave food packages but limited

Education

Universities

Minister of health gave shutting down instruction

Universities said it was "unnecessary panic" and stayed open

Were forced to shut down in

Internet connection problems => courses were disrupted

Schools

Were not technically ready to give online classes

Bad internet connection in Lebanon

Classes were very inconsistent

Official exams did not take place

Loss of thousands of job opportunities

Aggravation

Cause is still unknown!

Beirut Port

Huge explosion

August 4th, 2020

First reaction

March 2020

Government

Two week lock-down

Extended! Many times