- Title: Beirut airport reopens for first time since March
- Date: 1st July 2020
- Summary: SCREENS AT AIRPORT ARRIVALS SHOWING THERMAL SCAN OF PASSENGERS
- Embargoed: 15th July 2020 13:42
- Keywords: Beirut Airport Coronavirus Flights Lebanon
- Location: BEIRUT, LEBANON
- City: BEIRUT, LEBANON
- Country: Lebanon
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA002CKZBY2V
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Lebanon's international airport reopened for commercial flights on Wednesday (July 1) for the first time since the government shut it down as part of its response to the spread of COVID-19.
The government had announced in June that it will be a phased reopening with only a 10 percent passenger activity allowed at first compared to what it was the same time last year.
Passengers will be tested for COVID-19 upon arrival and obliged to practice home quarantine if testing positive.
Lebanon is witnessing its worst ever financial crisis with the local currency sliding rapidly amid uncertainty over whether can be bailed out.
Nevertheless some were happy to be coming back.
"My family is living in Lebanon and I haven't seen them since December (2019), because of the lockdown and coronavirus. The situation is very bad, my children miss me. We want this country to be ok, we Lebanese suffered a lot, it's enough,'' said returning engineer Fadi Bathish.
As the passengers began trickling back, officials including the Minister of Health and Minister of Transportation visited the airport and were preparing to give statements to the media but their statements were cut short when airport security and local journalists began to argue.
(Production: Issam Abdallah, Ayat Basma) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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