Libyans rushed on Thursday to stock up on food for Ramadan before a curfew starts in the capital Tripoli and other western areas aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 disease.
To combat its spread, Fayez al-Sarraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA) imposed a 24-hour curfew from Friday to try to ease the pressure on the healthcare system in the areas it controls, which include Tripoli.
Only bread and food purchases are allowed in the morning.
With the sound of artillery booming in the background from an offensive launched by the Libyan National Army (LNA) of Khalifa Haftar to liberate Tripoli from militias backing Sarraj, residents queued to get cash out of banks and to buy food.
Ramadan will start around April 24. The coronavirus adds to the fears and anxieties of residents tired after years of conflict that have seen the country divided into rival camps.
"I can't blame people who don't follow the instructions (of social distancing) because they have more to suffer with," said Amal, a 52-year-old mother of five.
"They do not have enough money and they try to get food from cheap places where you can find crowds of people in there," she told Reuters.
Unemployed Khalid, 36, had no money to buy food as he lost his job in a cafe closed due to coronavirus.
"I have been borrowing from friends and family but for how long they will be able to give me? They also have families to take care of," he said.
In Misrata, a port city some 200 km east of the capital, shopper al-Tayeb Ali complained about rising food prices.
"If you (plan to) spend 100-200 dinars per day in the month of Ramadan you find yourself spending 500 dinars ($355)," he said. "Now, the coronavirus pandemic has worsened people's crisis."
Despite calls by the United Nations for a ceasefire to allow Libya's fragmented and overstretched health system to prepare to fight the COVID-19 disease, fighting has intensified.
Blasts of artillery could be heard in central Tripoli throughout the week from fighting in southern districts.
A woman and a child were killed and another five children were wounded by artillery shelling in Tripoli, the GNA's Health Ministry spokesman, Amin al-Hashemi, said Thursday.
