Coronavirus

The coronavirus is a global pandemic that caused the world to drastically change. For

example, all the world economies have declined, cities are in lockdown, and people fell into

severe depression. This pandemic is spreading quickly among the people which is causing

enormous numbers of deaths especially to people who already suffer from other diseases such as

Asthma, heart diseases, etc. To stop this pandemic, governments in all the countries in the world

have took various types of decisions to limit the spread of the deadly virus and protect the

citizens and especially the elderly ones. Lebanese authorities must continue with their decision of

locking down the entire country until they reduce the number of coronavirus cases to the

minimum. The lockdown is so crucial since the capacity of hospitals are maximized, and because

the lockdown is declared as an important standard procedure by the WHO.

First, the patients out number the hospitals which leads to a crucial need of a lockdown.

As per the current statistic showed on the Lebanese news, Lebanese experts observe the

continues rise in the number of coronavirus cases. As the lockdown restrictions are removed,

people are moving out of their households for their work place or any other work, which involve

meeting others. The number of deaths is also increasing whereas the recovery rate is not

promising. Unfortunately, the Lebanese explosion only worsened things. Thousands of cases

arose not only from the pandemic but also the blast. Therefore, hospitals were working on full

capacity couldn’t accept new coronavirus cases, thus people couldn’t get the proper treatment

they needed, and this was all due to the huge rise of the coronavirus cases because there is no

lockdown. The authors claim that to decrease the case of one person per 100,000 obligatory

lockdown is important especially for employees (Osterholm & Kashkari, 2020). Also, they
claim that combining the lockdown method with proper testing will lead to the decrease of

cases.

Second, the lockdown is important since health care professionals in WHO claim so.

The virus started in Wuhan China and since, it has spread around the world. After a few

weeks the virus was declared to be a global pandemic. On the 30 th of January, the WHO

reported 9,439 case, later the number became in millions (Osterholm & Kashkari, 2020).

Scientist in WHO stated that people should be in immediate lockdown and all the

businesses, bars cafes should be closed. Scientists claimed that the lockdown is the only

correct way to end the global pandemic because their principles were based on pure

scientific methods that are indeed affective. For example, New Zealand is a country that can

be considered a proof that validates this method. The country only had a few cases when it

went through a complete lockdown. After a period, New Zealand became the first county in

the world to declare that their country is coved-free and completely safe. Another example

that further validates the claim (the lockdown) made by the WHO is the death rates in the

US. The US is one of the countries that did not follow the lockdown restrictions

recommended by the WHO just when the virus started, and the result was a dramatic

increase in the coronavirus cases and high numbers of deaths. On July 30 th, 4 million cases

were reported in the US including 155,000 death (Osterholm & Kashkari, 2020). As a

further consequence of not following the WHO recommendations, the US became the

country with the most deaths caused by the coronavirus.

However, many people believe that the decision of locking down the cities, closing all the

businesses, and preventing people from continuing their jobs, was a very bad decision which

caused other severe problems such as unemployment. The shut down of the cities wasn’t a
solution for coronavirus. On the contrary, it led most people and especially who depend on their

salaries to attain the life necessities, to suffer from poverty. There are many companies and shops

who declared bankruptcy due to the lockdown. According to Bechara Al-Asmar, who is the head

of the General Labour Union, the entire closure of the city has disastrous effects on the whole

society because it will lead many professional and international industries to close their doors

permanently which will throw thousands of people to become unemployed and unable to meet

the expenditures of life (Akleh, 2020). Yet, it should be mentioned that the decision of lockdown

was the most effective solution for this disastrous pandemic. Although it has many negative

effects, but such a decision was necessary to protect the country from worst scenarios in the

future.

To conclude, in Lebanon, there should be a lockdown because it is a standard procedure

recommended by the Word Health Organization and because the hospitals in Lebanon are

working in full capacity and cannot host more people sick with the virus. During what is going

on in Beirut now the corona virus only worsened things such as unemployment and increased

rates of poverty. Being in a lockdown imposes a challenging and a difficult time for Lebanese

individuals which creates a difference of opinions in the public Scene.

 References

Akleh, T. (2020). Why Businesses in Lebanon Oppose New Lockdown Despite Rise in

Coronavirus Cases. Retrieved from

https://www.arabianbusiness.com/banking-finance/454428-why-businesses-in-lebanon-

oppose-lockdown-despite-rise-in-coronavirus-cases

Osterholm, M., & Kashkari, N. (2020). Here's How to Crush the Virus Until Vaccines Arrive.

Retrieved December 12, 2020, from

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/opinion/coronavirus-lockdown-unemployment-

death.html