As Lebanon extended its coronavirus lockdown on Thursday until February 8, a new study revealed that more than half of Lebanese households (53 percent) have had their income reduced and 30 percent have lost their income source completely during previous restrictions.
Lebanon registered 64 Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, a new record for the third day in a row, while 4,332 people tested positive for the virus. The total toll now stands at 264,647 cases and 2,084 deaths.
The Multisectoral Rapid Needs Assessment (RMSNA) Study conducted by CARE, an international humanitarian agency based in Geneva, said that Lebanese have suffered greatly due to intermittent lockdowns of varying severity to curb the spread of the pandemic.
Businesses have closed and incomes have greatly shrunk because of these measures while the Lebanese health system is cracking, the study said.
The findings also showed that the economic instability in the country is expected to increase in 2021.
The current debt crisis, together with the Covid-19 pandemic and finally the Beirut port blast in August, has rendered Lebanon a fertile ground for an impending humanitarian crisis, it said.
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While few heads of households reported having a full time (18 percent) or part time employment status (10 percent), a significant percentage reported having an unstable employment status (49 percent) or were unemployed (23 percent).
When examining jobs that were mostly vulnerable among the Lebanese during lockdowns, daily labourers including taxi drivers, carpenters, farmers, blacksmiths, painters, restaurant workers, and concrete workers came up most frequently.
Findings of the study indicated that 42 percent of the families cited cost as a barrier to healthcare, indicating that economic vulnerability continues to be the most notable cause of poor access to care.
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Following the inflation of the Lebanese pound, that has reached an all-time high of 533 percent in November 2020, the proportion of Lebanese households earning below the minimum wage has dramatically increased from 44 percent (exchange rate of 1500 LBP per US dollar) to 94 percent (exchange rate of 8000 LBP per US dollar).
The study said 29 percent of households are earning less than 450,000 LBP per month, which is currently equivalent to $1.80 a day. The data also displayed that the average monthly expenditure was around $173 per month, or $5.70 a day, following an exchange rate of 8000 LBP per US dollar.
The proportion of households experiencing debt was 68 percent, the study added, while 3.3 percent reported that they are unable to buy food at all.
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