Reopening of institutions - Grand Serail – May 17, 2020

Reopening of institutions - Grand Serail – May 17, 2020

Dear fellow Lebanese,
I know very well that you all want to return to normal life, to engage in business as usual, to visit one another as before, to resume the academic year, to celebrate social occasions and to hold tight family and friends whom you have missed.
Coronavirus epidemic has disrupted our day-to-day life, our business and our social relationships.
One cannot easily believe that a virus which cannot be seen with the naked eye controls today’s world. But this is the truth. Yes. An invisible virus is imposing a different rhythm onto people's lives around the globe.
This looks more like science fiction stories and movies ... but it is a fact.
Since February 21, less than three months ago, we have been overwhelmed by anxiety: How can we preserve the lives of the Lebanese without incurring losses in all aspects of life?
Since our priority is to protect people’s lives, we have chosen to jump past all calculations.
The lives of our fathers and mothers, our brothers and sisters, our children, our families and our loved ones are way more precious than education, economics and trade...
Our humanity has triumphed over materialism. This is how the Lebanese have always been, and in this way they overcame crucial dangers in the past.
Leading a meaningful life and loving life are features that characterize us as Lebanese people. This is true. However, our love for the hustle and bustle of life cannot be at the expense of our own life and of that of persons we love.
We have succeeded in the face of a danger with minimal losses. A week ago, we were about to get in trouble due to the lack of commitment in some places.
Unfortunately, some are risking their lives and are taking lightly the lives of others.
When we launched the plan to reopen the country on April 24 , I have warned against the dangers of ending the lockdown and its disastrous consequences for our country, for fear of a second wave of the Coronavirus epidemic .
We have repeatedly warned against the possibility of losing what we have successfully achieved in terms of containing the spread of Covid-19 if we do not abide by prevention measures and of having to move from a lockdown to another.
The risks of lifting the lockdown can take us back to the early stages of the epidemic.
Late last week, we started noticing an increase in the number of infected people and the appearance of new multi-pronged clusters in various parts of the country. Over a period of ten days, the number of new internal cases has increased almost five times, compared to ten previous days. The daily average infection rate has also increased compared to the levels found before the re –opening. Accordingly, we have decided to impose a full 4-day lockdown.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health teams were conducting intensive testing in addition to tracking and isolating all cases.
Lebanon has managed to remain at the stage of containing the virus spread since the beginning of the pandemic, and our goal is to remain at this stage, though many countries have moved from the stage of inability to contain the pandemic to the mitigation stage, due to their inability to control the epidemic outbreak and the high number of infections. Nevertheless, they are still very careful and vigilant in lifting the lockdown.
Today we are still concerned about the high number of infections for several reasons, including:
First, we have managed to overcome the first peak after tiring and painstaking work during two months of social isolation.
Second, the economic and financial situation has been exacerbated by the lockdown.
All this leads to the lax implementation of the measures required, such as social distancing and prevention, whereas it is necessary to remain cautious in order to triumph over the epidemic.
Besides, the third repatriation phase has started. After evaluating the second phase, we have adopted more stringent measures to reduce the proportion of inbound positive cases from expatriates by imposing a PCR test in some countries, strengthening the internal follow - up of returnees and repeating the PCR test fourteen days after their return.
We are going through a dangerous and very sensitive period, since coronavirus crisis will last a very long time and could possibly threaten the lives of our loved ones. Furthermore, the second wave could be worse than the peak of the first wave.
We realize that continuing the lockdown has serious economic and social repercussions. We are trying, as much as we can, to minimize these repercussions.
Consequently, I announce today the reopening of the country as of tomorrow, based on the five-stage plan. This will require additional collective sacrifices and commitment, while quarantining neighbourhoods and regions with high infection rates.
We have to remain vigilant, maintain social distancing and follow prevention and protection guidelines in order to safeguard our society and preserve our sacrifices.
I urge all Lebanese to deal with the reopening of the country very carefully, to partner with us in assuming responsibility and to accompany the State in protecting the society from collapse.
We do not want this stage to turn into a nightmare, and we will not accept that all Lebanese pay the price for some irresponsible and indifferent behaviours.
I call on Lebanese people to observe self-monitoring, take responsibility and not risk their lives, those of their families and those of their compatriots.
This commitment will inevitably lead to triumph over the virus, and thus to the continuation of the following stages of the reopening plan.
Do not underestimate the risk, so that we do not all regret it when regrets will then serve no purpose.
Tomorrow we will partially re-open the country, and the Minister of Interior will announce the details today.
Let us all cooperate, and let everyone be a partner in protecting the country: military and security services, municipalities, owners of commercial enterprises, citizens ... Let us all take responsibility for ourselves and successfully move to the third stage.
I am confident that we will manage to protect our people and our country, despite major and heavy concerns.
May God help us all for the sake of Lebanon and its people.

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