​The President chaired a meeting devoted to take urgent measures to confront Corona spread, and requested the continuation of securing oil and derivatives, in addition to taking the necessary measures to prevent any accident at the Zouk power plant.

Minister Hassan: “We are facing a real and imminent challenge to the health security of the Lebanese. We have put together a list of field hospitals and the treatments are provided for free”.

Minister Ghajar: “The materials in Zouk factory are safe and industrial. The amount of liquid ammonia does not exceed 25%, and it doesn’t explode except at a 650 degrees heat, while the temperature in the storage places doesn’t exceed 30”.

President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, devoted his meetings today at the Presidential Palace, to follow-up the work of a number of ministries after the Government entered the caretaker stage, aiming to activate the work of these ministries and departments, especially those which are in direct contact with citizens.

Corona Situation:

The President chaired a meeting, attended by Caretaker Prime Minister, Dr. Hassan Diab, Health Minister, Dr. Hamad Hassan, the President’s Advisor for Health and Social Affairs, former MP Walid Khoury, Director General of the Presidency, Dr. Antoine Choucair and the Prime Minister’s advisor for Health Affairs, Dr. Petra Khoury.

The meeting was devoted to tackle Corona developments, in light of the high numbers of infected individuals during the past days, and the need to take urgent measures to confront the spread.

Statement of Minister Hassan:

“Today’s meeting was convened at the invitation of His Excellency the President of the Republic, in the presence of the Prime Minister to discuss two issues, the health status of the injured individuals and their follow-up in hospitals, and the Corona crisis’s emerging danger with the shocking numbers in the past two weeks.

As a result of the discussion, its various aspects and the keenness of the President and Prime Minister to remove all obstacles to coordination in order to protect the Lebanese society in various Lebanese regions, we agreed on the following measures:

-         Establishing a work cell to activate coordination in medical and hospital sectors as a result of the Port explosion, which led to 4 hospitals getting out of service and the crisis of transferring patients from these institutions to some hospitals in the Capital and surroundings, and to make use, as much as possible, from field hospitals which were provided by many brotherly and friendly countries.

-         Extending the declaration of the state of emergency in the Lebanese Capital, for an additional month, as the health sector situation requires doing so.

-         Emphasizing on adherence to all recommendations proposed by the Corona Follow-up Committee and issuing the necessary measures for that, and in particular: starting to isolate some neighborhoods in some areas as a first step and reactivating home quarantine, while reminding of the high percentage of commitment in the past stage. Unfortunately now, some people have begun to suspect the existence of the virus, despite hundreds of cases recorded daily. We now have about 50% of the beds designated for Corona, full, and we must follow the equipment of field hospitals to compensate for the 4 hospitals which are now out of service, part of which must be allocated to Corona infected patients. Especially that since after the explosion, first aid was obtained for emergency cases outside the control of the medical staff which will inevitably affect the number of cases. We expect more cases during the next week, which requires us to act responsibly and with awareness of all parties.

-         Activating hospitals to receive Corona-infected patients, so that now Government and private hospitals must open their doors to those infected individuals. We have set up a mechanism with the World Bank to pay the bills of hospital institutions two weeks after receiving them, without waiting for the bid to be closed to the TPA company, which must accompany the financial audit with these hospitals, in our sense of the exceptional circumstances that private hospitals are going through and to support them at the current stage in order to assume responsibility with us in receiving Corona patients.

Dr. Hassan concluded saying “I hope that the entire Lebanese community in all regions adheres to the general recommendations. We do not ask you for a miracle, but rather to put on masks, social distancing and not overcrowding and gathering as much as possible”.

Questions & Answers:

Responding to a question, the Health Minister said that “The Health Ministry has put together a list of all field hospitals, the advanced specialization for each of them, and the treatments provided for free. This was announced on the ministry’s website, and it will be circulated to all media outlets, because there are medical teams from a large number of countries that accompany. We understood the first shock of the explosion, the condition of patients in various hospitals and citizens can go directly to these hospitals according to the schedule prepare by our Ministry”.

Then, Dr. Hassan was asked about the description of the current outbreak of Corona in Lebanon, where he replied “Unfortunately, we are facing a real challenge that haunted the reality of the Lebanese health security, because the numbers are in hundreds, and the explosion that took place made things worse, so that all patients from the 4 hospitals were transferred to other hospitals and it was done. Taking from the quota of beds prepared for Corona patients, in addition to the increase in the number of infected. There is a depletion of all capabilities of the health system and this requires international support and close local cooperation”.

“When we talk about medical aid, we confirm that it can be used in surgical and recovery cases for those injured by the explosion, as well as for Corona patients. The lists of different drug needs that were submitted by the ministry to the health ministers of brotherly and friendly countries include diseases. The achievement of the Health Ministry within a week after the explosion also restored as much medicine warehouses and refrigerators as possible.  We started distributing these medicines two days ago according to their availability” Dr. Hassan indicated.

Regarding the tendency to close some institutions as a result of Corona outbreak, Hassan clarified that “We are still committed to public mobilization until the 28^th of August, and the deadline is renewable and some neighborhoods will be isolated and then some areas may be isolated because high cases have been recorded in the last two weeks and have reached the climax”.

Minister Raymond Ghajar

Afterwards, President Aoun discussed with the Caretaker Energy Minister, Raymond Ghajar, the situation of electricity and fuel, in addition to the issue of the Zouk Mosbeh plant for the production of electricity, after information about the presence of flammable chemicals.

President Aoun asked the Energy Minister to work to continue securing fuel for the production of electric power, gasoline and diesel to avoid any crisis. Regarding the Zouk power plant, the President of the Republic stressed that the necessary measures should be taken to prevent any accident in it due to the presence of flammable material and to ensure the safety of workers and citizens.

Statement of Minister Ghajar:

“I met with His Excellency, the President of the Republic, today to inform him about the electricity situation and the damages that the EDL and its affiliated facilities have suffered from, especially the transmission station in Achrafieh, in addition to the work that we are doing to restore electricity to all areas, especially in the Achrafieh-Medawar region.

I also raised the issue that caused some confusion related to the chemicals present in the Zouk factory. You know that all the factories use chemical materials for their operation, including the Zouk plant and others. We store them according to the rules and according to different standards, and we are also working to treat them according to rules. Some MPs, municipalities and others raised the issue of the unsafe storage method, and the ISF Information Branch was asked to intervene to examine and evaluate the situation in the Zouk factory and its warehouses, and it was found that it never contained ammonium nitrate, which was the cause of the massive explosion in Beirut, and the materials in the laboratory are safe and industrial. In addition, the amount of liquid ammonia in our possession does not exceed 25% and it does not explode except at a temperature of 650 degrees, while the temperature in the storage places does not exceed 30 degrees. After our review of the report of the ISF Information Branch, the necessary measures were taken with the support of the security forces in terms of sorting the materials. We also informed the civil defense of the existing materials in case of any problem, and there are some materials that we will issue or destroy in the best way with the accompaniment of the Ministry of Environment”.

Questions & Answers:

In response to a question about how this material will be destroyed after the people of Keserwan hills refused to do so in their region, he replied: “What happened is that the security forces said that there are materials that we have to destroy, so they took them for destruction, since these security forces are the concerned party with the accompaniment of the Ministry of Environment. When these forces reached the top, the people of the region did not accept that. We were also informed by production companies that even if these goods are expired, there will be no threat. These materials were returned to the Zouk factory, which led to a bigger problem, as some believed that due to the inability to destroy them, they became more dangerous. These materials are already present and by their nature they are not dangerous, and any electricity factory in Lebanon or outside owns them, as they are used for cleaning pipes, boilers, or for water desalination. They are not explosive materials but rather toxic. In the event that there are some materials that we do not need, and they have accumulated over time because we have developed and rehabilitated this plant, then we can export them abroad with the aim of damaging them, and if there is a possibility to damage them here, it is not up to us to destroy them, but specialized companies do that under the supervision of the Ministry of Environment”.

Regarding the possibility of a gasoline or fuel crisis in the future, Ghajar replied “The crisis has disappeared! The strange thing in a reality like the one we live in is that during which we can expect more gasoline and diesel fuel, and we have always said that there is no problem at all. Every week, there are terribly stored quantities of it. The evidence is that the demand for diesel has dramatically decreased. I imagine that those who stored diesel became afraid of random storage, and so used the amounts that they stored, and the percentage decreased dramatically. Increasing the supply of electric current has its share, and there is no request from the owners of generators on diesel. As for gasoline, we had a small problem with some private companies because they were unable to import it due to the establishment of funds, and this issue was resolved”.

Finally concerning generator bills, the Energy Minister said “The pricing was modified last month because we were delaying this issue, and there was an upward increase in diesel price. The most important thing is the price of spare parts, which the owners of generators have become unable to do their maintenance. Then we agreed that such materials cannot be brought from Lebanon, and we must take into account the market price, which led to a large one-time increase, and we cannot accept changing them yet. In the event of a decrease in the exchange rate, this will affect the moving price of private generators in the sense of decrease, and not increase”.

Minister, Ghada Shreim:

The President then received the Minister of Displaced in the caretaker Government, Mrs. Ghada Shreim.

Minister Shreim briefed President Aoun on the progress of work in the ministry to complete measures taken to secure compensation payments owed to numerous citizens. Current political developments were also tackled during the meeting.

Chairman of the National Audiovisual Media Council:

President Aoun met the Chairman of the National Audiovisual Media Council, Abdel Hadi Mahfouz.

The President deliberated, with Mahfouz,  the country’s media reality and the need to deal with audiovisual media institutions with all events and developments objectively, in a way which preserves national interest, civil peace and Lebanese coexistence, given the difficult conditions which Lebanon currently passes through.

King of Sweden Condolences:

Afterwards, President Aoun received a condoling cable from Swedish King, Carl Gustav, which stated “We offer, in our personal name and in the name the Queen of Sweden and her people, our deepest heartfelt condolences to the Lebanese and the families of martyrs of the Beirut Port explosion last Tuesday, raising prayers to soothe the wounds of the injured, as soon as possible”.​