Lebanon’s largest prison has more than 200 coronavirus cases, the head of the country’s doctors’ union warned Thursday, calling for speedy trials to ease overcrowding.
“There are more than 200 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Roumieh prison,” Sharaf Abu Sharaf told journalists in Beirut, after authorities first announced 22 cases at the weekend.
Abu Sharaf did not specify whether the new cases were all inmates or if they also included prison guards.
But he blamed prisoners for the spike in infections, saying they were not abiding by health measures.
He also called on authorities to speed up trials to ease overcrowding, in a country where suspects can languish in jail for months without a hearing.
Roumieh prison houses more than 4,000 prisoners, around three times its intended capacity, and has long been infamous for its poor conditions.
A video leaked from the prison and shared widely across social media on Wednesday showed nearly 100 inmates demanding immediate measures to ease overcrowding in light of the virus outbreak.
A prisoner speaking on the group’s behalf threatened a “river of blood” unless steps are taken.
Security authorities had first announced 22 coronavirus cases there on Saturday.
They include nine guards and 13 detainees who had been transferred to an isolation unit inside the jail.
Read more: Fire breaks out in landmark building in central Beirut: Reports
Dozens of families of Roumieh detainees staged a protest in front of a Beirut courthouse Monday, demanding a general amnesty for their relatives over fears the pandemic was spreading in the jail.
Speaking to AFP on Monday, Beirut Bar Association head Melhem Khalaf called the outbreak there a “humanitarian time bomb.”
Caretaker health minister Hamad Hassan has said his ministry was working with the ministries of interior and defense to prepare two hospitals in the eastern Bekaa region and one in the capital to treat detainees.
Covid-19 infections have surged in Lebanon in recent weeks, especially after a massive explosion at Beirut port on August 4 that killed more than 190 people, wounded thousands and ravaged large parts of the capital.
Since February, Lebanon has recorded a total of 26,083 Covid-19 cases, including 259 deaths.
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