Lebanon Welcomes The New Year in Style Published December 31st, 2020 - 08:42 GMT (Shutterstock)
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Citizens have also been ordered not to celebrate by shooting guns into the air, and dancing in bars and restaurants has already been banned.
Lebanon has begun the countdown to what are expected to be muted New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Despite some hotels and nightclubs reporting healthy bookings for parties and events, the country’s dire economic situation and a surge in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases is likely to result in most citizens seeing in 2021 at home.
Shops and catering stores have been relatively busy with people buying items to mark New Year’s Eve and pre-ordering home deliveries of food.
BEIRUT: Lebanon has begun the countdown to what are expected to be muted New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Despite some hotels and nightclubs reporting healthy bookings for parties and events, the country’s dire economic situation and a surge in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases is likely to result in most citizens seeing in 2021 at home.
Shops and catering stores have been relatively busy with people buying items to mark New Year’s Eve and pre-ordering home deliveries of food.
Hotels hosting parties said bookings had exceeded expectations, but restaurant owners’ syndicate head, Pierre Al-Achkar, pointed out that 167 hotels damaged by the Beirut port explosion still required repairs and were unable to open.
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The Lebanese government has less than two weeks to pass a law before the capital of the Bekaa valley and surrounding areas go dark. Zahle, Lebanon’s fourth-largest city, and 17 other villages have been enjoying uninterrupted electricity supply in a country where daily power cuts are the norm.
Electricité de Zahlé (EDZ), a private company, has been supplying electricity around the clock to Zahle and surrounding areas since 2015 as part of a contract with state-owned Electricité du Liban (EDL).
But that contract, which expires December 31, will have to be renewed by passing a bill in parliament before year-end for the private company to stay operational.