The Beirut Traders Association announced Monday that the entire commercial sector “categorically rejects obliging commercial institutions, shops and markets to close for up to two weeks as being reported by governmental and administrative sources.”
In a statement, the Association noted that previous lockdowns had “failed” to stem the spread of coronavirus.
“If it is true that the partial lockdown has not succeeded, the total lockdown had been a total failure according to all health and economic standards,” the Association said.
It decried that “all economic sectors, especially the commercial ones, are suffering a dangerous deterioration, which has reached 70 to 90 percent.”
It accordingly warned that any “rash and unfair measure targeting the activities of commercial shops, institutions and malls would subject them to the threat of extermination and would terminate the jobs of thousands and thousands of employees, especially amid the absence of any support from the state for these sectors, contrary to what the other countries are doing.”
“The Interior Ministry, which has always showed understanding and cooperation with us, realizes that the breach of coronavirus precaution and safety measures is not being recorded at commercial shops and institutions but rather at other places, especially public administrations,” the Association added.