Lebanon’s Full Hospitals Turn Away Coronavirus Patients Amid Record Daily Cases

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A medic wearing full protective gear checks a woman who might have contracted coronavirus inside an emergency room at the Rafik Hariri Hospital on Nov. 17. Beirut hospitals are reaching maximum capacity amid an influx of coronavirus patients.

Marwan Naamani/picture alliance via Getty Images

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Marwan Naamani/picture alliance via Getty Images

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Lebanese people celebrate the New Year in Beirut. Lebanon entered 2021 with record daily new coronavirus cases, and health workers fear that the celebrations could have spread the virus further.

Hussein Malla/AP

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Hussein Malla/AP

Lebanese people celebrate the New Year in Beirut. Lebanon entered 2021 with record daily new coronavirus cases, and health workers fear that the celebrations could have spread the virus further.

Hussein Malla/AP

After the toughest year in Lebanon’s recent history, many Lebanese decided to relieve stress with one night of partying on New Year’s Eve. They packed into bars and held parties at home. Social media lit up with posts from crowds of revelers.

«We are expecting a surge in cases because of the irresponsible behavior over the holidays, says Dr. Firass Abiad, the head of the public Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut.

Bassam Osman, a surgery resident at the American University of Beirut Medical Center, says he and his colleagues felt «terrible watching the New Year’s Eve celebrations. «Imagine working for a whole year. You’re exhausted, and then you open your Instagram and you see people partying everywhere like they are not taking anything seriously, he says. «All the feelings of sadness and helplessness go away and it becomes just absolute anger. And then you can do nothing about it because the damage has already been done.

Lockdown, vaccines

On Thursday, Lebanon began its fifth nationwide lockdown since the start of the pandemic, forcing restaurants and shops to close for three weeks. But adherence to past orders has been patchy. Osman says he is not optimistic the measures will have a significant long-term impact.

The health minister says Lebanon will receive its first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 in mid-February and will begin administering the shots at no cost for citizens. But in the meantime, doctors say, they are bracing for some long hard weeks.