State of emergency to begin in Lebanon on Thursday after virus surge

State of emergency to begin in Lebanon on Thursday after virus surge

Lebanon has declared a general state of emergency that begins on January 14 after registering an unprecedented surge in Covid-19 cases.

A day-time and night-time curfew will be enforced from 5am Thursday until 5am on January 25 and all public and private cars will be banned from the streets.

All public and private institutions and commercial banks will be closed, while supermarkets and restaurants will be allowed to offer delivery services from 5am until 5pm.

Business in Lebanon suffer further in November and many expect the current economic crisis to continue into 2021

As the Higher Defence Council ordered the closure of shops and supermarkets, Lebanon witnessed panic buying with traffic jams and crowded supermarkets on Monday.

The National Social Security Fund, medical and foodstuffs factories, wholesale foodstuff markets, flour mills, bakeries, pharmacies, medical labs, clinics, money exchange and transfer shops, fuel stations and insurance companies will be allowed to operate during certain times of the day.

The airport will remain open but travellers arriving from Addis Ababa, Cairo, Adana, Istanbul and Baghdad will have to be quarantined for a week in hotels on their own expense.

Land and maritime borders will also be closed to all travellers except those carrying a valid transit visa and passenger