Beirut explosion: Angry
residents demand answers
after blast
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 Beirut port explosion
Media captionPeople in Beirut
help clear the streets after
deadly explosion
People in Beirut have
expressed anger at the
government over what they say
was negligence that led to
Tuesday's huge explosion.
President Michel Aoun said the
blast was caused by 2,750
tonnes of ammonium nitrate
stored unsafely in a warehouse.
Many have accused the
authorities of corruption,
neglect and mismanagement.
The blast killed at least 135
people and injured more than
4,000 others. A two-week state
of emergency has begun.
"Beirut is crying, Beirut is
screaming, people are
hysterical and people are
tired," filmmaker Jude Chehab
told the BBC, calling for the
people responsible to face
justice.
Media caption"Now I'm
shaking, all the way from up to
down" - Eyewitnesses describe
the power of the explosion
Chadia Elmeouchi Noun, a
Beirut resident currently in
hospital, said: "I've known all
the time that we are led by
incompetent people,
incompetent government [...]
But I tell you something - what
they have done now is
absolutely criminal."
government announced that a
were placed under house arrest
pending an investigation into
the explosion.
The country's Supreme
Defence Council insisted that
those found responsible would
face the "maximum
punishment".
Meanwhile, Amnesty
International and Human
Rights Watch have called for
an independent investigation
into the blast. In a statement,
HRW said it had "serious
concerns about the ability of
the Lebanese judiciary to
conduct a credible and
transparent investigation on its
own".
What triggered the
explosion?
The ammonium nitrate - which
is used as a fertiliser in
agriculture and as an explosive
- had reportedly been in a
warehouse in Beirut port for
six years after it was unloaded
from a ship impounded in
2013.
The head of Beirut port and the
head of the customs authority
both told local media that they
had written to the judiciary
several times asking that the
chemical be exported or sold
on to ensure port safety.
Port General Manager Hassan
Koraytem told OTV they had
been aware that the material
was dangerous when a court
first ordered it stored in the
warehouse, "but not to this
degree".
Media captionRami Ruhayem
has been to Gemmayze, the
closest residential area to the
port
House arrest would apply for
all port officials "who have
handled the affairs of storing
[the] ammonium nitrate,
guarding it and handling its
paperwork" since June 2014,
according to Information
Minister Manal Abdel Samad.
The ammonium nitrate arrived
on a Moldovan-flagged ship,
the Rhosus, which entered
Beirut port after suffering
technical problems during its
voyage from Georgia to
Mozambique, according to
Shiparrested.com, which deals
with shipping-related legal
cases.
The Rhosus was inspected,
banned from leaving and was
shortly afterwards abandoned
by its owners, sparking several
legal claims. Its cargo was
stored in a port warehouse for
safety reasons, the report said.
More on the explosion in
Beirut
 IN PICTURES: Chaos
and destruction
 AMMONIUM
NITRATE: What is
it? How dangerous is
it?
 Q&A: What we know
 THE CONTEXT:
Why Lebanon is in
crisis
What is the latest on rescue
efforts?
Security forces have sealed off
a wide area around the blast
site, and rescuers have been
looking for bodies and
survivors under rubble while
boats searched the waters off
the coast. Dozens of people are
still missing.
Public Health Minister Hamad
Hassan said Lebanon's health
sector was short of beds and
lacked the equipment
necessary to treat the injured
and care for patients in critical
condition.
As many as 300,000 people
have been left homeless by the
blast, Beirut's governor
Marwan Aboud said.
Image copyright Reuters Image
caption The explosion
destroyed the surrounding area
He told the BBC: "Beirut needs
food, Beirut needs clothes,
houses, materials to rebuild
houses. Beirut needs a place
for the refugees, for its
people."
A number of countries have
offered humanitarian
assistance. Three French planes
are due to arrive carrying 55
rescuers, medical equipment
and a mobile clinic equipped to
treat 500 people.
On Thursday President
Emmanuel Macron will
become the first world leader
to visit the country, a former
colony of France, since the
tragedy.
The EU, Russia, Tunisia,
Turkey, Iran and Qatar are all
sending relief supplies. The
UK is also ready to send
medical experts and
humanitarian aid, Foreign
Secretary Dominic Raab said.
Ammonium nitrate
Image copyright Reuters come. The future of the port
itself is in doubt due to the
 Common industrial destruction caused.
chemical used mainly
as fertiliser in President Aoun announced that
agriculture the government would release
 Also one of the main 100 billion lira (£50.5m;
components in $66m) of emergency funds but
explosives used in the impact of the blast on the
mining economy is expected to be
 Not explosive on its long-lasting.
own, ignites only
under the right The explosion happened close
circumstances to the scene of a huge car
 When it explodes, it bombing which killed former
can release toxic Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in
gases including 2005. A verdict in the trial of
nitrogen oxides and four men accused of
ammonia gas orchestrating the attack was
 Strict rules on how to due on Friday at a special court
store it safely: site has in the Netherlands, but this has
to be fire-proofed, and been postponed until 18
not have any drains, August out of respect for the
pipes or other victims of Tuesday's blast
channels in which
ammonium nitrate
could build up
What's the background?
The explosion comes at a
sensitive time for Lebanon.
With Covid-19 infections on
the rise, hospitals were already
struggling to cope. Now, they
are faced with treating
thousands of injured people.
Image copyright EPA Image
caption The blast shattered
windows miles away
The country is also going
through the worst economic
crisis since the 1975-1990 civil
war, and tensions were already
high with street demonstrations
against the government. People
have to deal with daily power
cuts, a lack of safe drinking
water and limited public
healthcare.
Lebanon imports most of its
food and large quantities of
grain stored in the port have
been destroyed causing fears of
widespread food insecurity to
 suspected to have begun 
Coronaviru with failures in the hotel
Why did the virus
re-emerge in
quarantine of travellers
s: Why is arriving from overseas.
Melbourne?

Melbourne About three weeks ago,

The outbreak has spread a
little, with small clusters
the nation's second-largest
seeing more city embarked on a new
identified in Sydney in
neighbouring New South
six-week lockdown.
cases? Wales, and a handful of
infections recorded in
But halfway through, Queensland.
By Frances Mao BBC hundreds of cases are still
News, Sydney emerging each day in the In Victoria, the biggest
state of Victoria. problems have emerged
 31 July 2020 Thursday and Friday saw in certain settings: aged
the worst rises yet - 723 care homes, meat
 and 627 respectively. factories, schools and
public housing estates.
 Share this with The numbers are higher
than those health officials
Facebook
had modelled for this
Victoria's daily

 Share this with deep into the lockdown. case increase
Messenger
 So why isn't it working Lockdown began 9 July
 Share this with more effectively? The full
Twitter picture isn't clear - but Source: Victorian
 here's what we know so Government
 Share this with Email far.
 Often the people infected
What does have been those who can't
 Share work from home.
Australia's
Image copyright EPA situation look The outbreak also appears
Image caption Melbourne to be being driven by
residents must wear a like? people who might be in
mask and can only leave insecure work or working
their homes for essential The second wave is multiple jobs, as well as
reasons centred in Victoria, with from family groups and
most of the cases reported care facilities, virologists
For the first few months in the state capital, say.
of the pandemic, Melbourne. More than
9,000 cases were
Australia appeared to
confirmed in the state in
Are people
have successfully
clamped down on Covid- July - about half of breaking the
Australia's total since the
19.
pandemic began.
rules?
But since June, an Victoria's government has
outbreak in Melbourne warned that many people
has exploded. It is
are doing the wrong thing
- such as going to work
while sick.
"Together with
community transmission,
that is what makes cases
grow and grow," said
Premier Daniel Andrews.
Last week, he revealed
more than half of newly
infected people had not
self-isolated while
waiting 48 hours for their
test result. Nine out of 10
also failed to immediately
get tested after feeling
symptoms.
Image copyright Getty
Images Image caption
Authorities say they are
finding people who are
breaking the rules
Online there have also
been instances of people
flouting lockdown rules,
claiming it breaches their
human rights. They have
drawn sharp rebukes from
authorities.
Mr Andrews also
acknowledged that in
many cases, people were
breaking rules because
they felt they couldn't
afford to take medical
leave. He has since re-
emphasised there is a
pandemic leave payment
for those who need it.
But is there
enough data?
The latest record numbers
mostly represent people
who caught the virus
about a week ago, when
lockdown was well under
way. This takes into
account the timeline
between feeling
symptoms, going for
testing and receiving
results.
But overall it's hard to
quantify the impact,
experts say, when other
assumed drivers of
transmission aren't being
measured publicly.
Experts say it's clear that
transmission from
asymptomatic people is
happening, but the extent
of it is unknown.
Image copyright EPA
Image caption The
government has not
revealed the full details of
case trends
The continued high
numbers also suggest the
virus was embedded in
the community earlier
than first thought. But due
to a lack of public
information no
conclusions can be drawn
yet, says Prof John
Mathews, from the
University of Melbourne.
"There needs to be more
transparency. We really
don't know what data is
being collected, and how
well it supports the
current policies," he said.
There are also questions
about the rate of the
government's response.
Australia has deployed
thousands more medical
staff to identified hotspots
- is it helping? Is the
tracing of infected
people's contacts
happening quickly
enough, as the state
government insists it is?
So what
happens now?
Following an emergency
meeting, authorities will
now review all their
lockdown case data to get
"clarity on what's
happening with this virus
right now".
"That careful, considered
work will happen today
and tomorrow and then
we will have more to
say," Mr Andrews said on
Friday. "My exclusive
focus is on beating this
thing - this wicked, silent
enemy."
Most experts say that an
extension of Melbourne's
lockdown is likely. Based
on what the review finds,
it's widely speculated that
tougher restrictions could
be brought in.
Melbourne only made it
mandatory to wear masks
a week ago - meaning any
positive effect from them
is likely yet to be seen in
the infection numbers.
A decline in cases over
more than a week will be
needed to indicate the
situation is improving,
experts say.

Although case numbers

remain high, Prof Bruce
Thompson from
Swinburne University
said it was encouraging
that the reproduction rate
had stabilised. Now, on
average, an infected
person is transmitting the
virus to only one other
person.

"For the past few days, it

has been less than one,
which provides
significant hope," he said.