COVID-19: War-torn Libya announces 10-day lockdown

The besieged Tripoli administration ordered the shutdown of all government facilities, large markets and non-essential shops in its territory, and lockdown of roads to traffic, in a bid to slow the spread of Covid-19.

 

The measure, announced by the Presidential Council, starts this Friday April 17 and will last 10 days. Citizens wearing masks may venture out on foot from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Banks, a main source of crowding in recent weeks, would also close.

Only essential services will remain operational, including electricity, telecommunications, secu-rity and health services, freight traffic and municipal services, according to the PC order.

It also excluded from the lockdown, the shipments of foodstuff and small shops and bakeries, provided that they operate from 7 a.m. till 12 p.m.

 

The government, which rules a shrinking corner of the country’s west, had initially left it to local officials to impose most of the restrictive orders. But as confirmed infections rose to 35, including one death, it accepted a proposal from the National Center for Disease Control to take harsher steps.

Guterres has warned that the deadly virus is threatening international peace and security and that it can potentially lead “to an increase in social unrest and violence that would greatly undermine our ability to fight the disease”.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council would “in the coming days” discuss and endorse UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for a ceasefire to all conflicts in the world, including in Libya, in order to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. French President Macron has pushed for the five permanent members to hold a video conference on that issue.

The meeting will take place as soon as Russian President Vladmir Putin accepts the invitation