Syrian refugees in Lebanon take coronavirus lockdown seriously

Syrian refugees confined to their tents in Lebanese camps as a result of the measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) say they are passing the time with family and a sense of tranquility.

The Lebanese government imposed a nationwide lockdown and issued protective sanitary measures in mid-March to prevent the spread of the disease.

'The day flies by'

Inside a modest tent in the Majdal Anjar refugee camp near the Masnaa border crossing, Mezyad al-Ali, 41, a Syrian refugee from Homs, said he is complying with the quarantine.

"I have kept to the tent with my family since the government announced the lockdown," he told Al-Mashareq. "The virus has imposed tranquility in the camp as all of us are complying with the quarantine and following the preventative instructions on sterilisation and personal hygiene."

"The day flies by as I divide my time between teaching and playing with my children, and educating them about the coronavirus and how to avoid it," said al-Ali, a father of four.

Only one person per family is allowed to leave the camp to buy the family's needs, provided that he is protected with a mask and gloves and follows the instructions with regard to maintaining a certain distance from other people, al-Ali said.

The lockdown "has severely limited our movement and assembly inside the camp", he added. "We are living in semi-isolation."

Gatherings and social visits between families and relatives inside the camp have dropped, al-Ali said. Children no longer congregate in the camp's yards and they are being taught by their parents until distance learning is made available to those who attend public school.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provides daily updates and awareness messages from the Ministry of Public Health "and we follow them", he said.

"It also put at our disposal the hotlines to the Ministry of Health and the Red Cross to report emergencies, and we co-ordinate daily with the municipalities regarding the measures."

Spreading awareness

Al-Ali volunteers with the Beyond Association, a local humanitarian organisation, to help spread awareness.

"I go from tent to tent and communicate with the families to educate them [about coronavirus] and communicate via WhatsApp with other camps to determine their needs," he said.

"No symptoms have been observed in any of the camps," al-Ali said.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Beyond had held a series of educational sessions for about 700 children and parents living in the camps, meeting with each family separately, said Joe Awad, the organisation's director.

"Our team uses materials approved by the Ministry of Public Health, the World Health Organisation and UNICEF, and we have provided prevention training for parents in camps," he told Al-Mashareq.

In co-operation with the Jabal El Sheikh Municipalities Federation, Beyond trained 16 Syrian volunteers on raising awareness among refugee families.

The association, in co-operation with crisis committees in the villages, also distributed 300 food rations and set up four quarantine centres in Kawkaba, al-Qaraoun, Baalul and Ansar, and are currently in the process of setting up four more in Dahr al-Ahmar, Khirbet Qanafar, Ghaza and Zahle.

The refugees in the camps are "complying with the lockdown measures and leave the camps only to meet their basic medical and nutritional needs", said UNHCR public information officer Lisa Abou Khaled.

"UNHCR is working closely with local authorities on the response to COVID-19, and a number of refugees underwent virus tests and the results came back negative," she told Al-Mashareq.

Since the onset of the virus outbreak, "UNHCR teams have been working round-the-clock to provide the necessary support to the refugees", she said.

The teams have been working "in co-operation with our partners on expanding the financial assistance to reach refugee camps and Lebanese communities that are most affected during this difficult period", she added.