Chairman of Spinneys’ hypermarket chain, Hassan Ezzeldine, has called on authorities to exempt supermarkets from delivery-only restrictions as part of the country’s full lockdown.
Ezzeldine also requested to allow people to obtain permission to shop in-store via the state’s COVID-19 IMPACT travel permission application.
Ezzeldine recently went on Sar El-Waet, a weekly political and social TV show, to express his views in regards to the safety measures imposed under the latest COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.
“Random decision-making is what led to overcrowding the supermarkets, resulting in a surge in coronavirus cases,” Ezzeldine said.
This comes as supermarkets are struggling to keep up with increased demands for delivery, ever since the Supreme Defense Council prohibited people from going out, and only allowed food and grocery stores to operate through delivery service.
“There are days-long delays and significant wastage of fresh produce,” said the Head of the Syndicate of Supermarket Owners, Nabil Fahd.
Meanwhile, farmers are selling approximately 80 percent less produce, according to the head of the Bekaa farmers’ association, Ibrahim Tarshishi.
However, Lebanon might not ease down on the new restrictions anytime soon, as the country registered on Monday 53 coronavirus deaths, a one-day record, and 3,144 more cases despite a full lockdown to give overwhelmed hospitals a reprieve.
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