On Monday, Ibrahim Bushnaaf, the Interior Minister for Libya’s eastern-based Interim Government, issued a decision excluding small food stores from the government imposed curfew. The latter will be allowed to open daily for two hours, from 10 am to 12 pm, during the 10-day curfew.
In a statement, the Interior Minister called on owners of such stores to have a sufficient enough stock of foodstuffs to last for the next ten days.
Bushnaaf also noted that all transport is forbidden during curfew hours, urging citizens to buy their needs from the food stores nearest to their places of residence.
Starting last Wednesday, Libya announced it would impose a curfew for 10 days in an attempt to prevent an outbreak of COVID-19 in the country.
Libya has been mired in chaos since the overthrow of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Today, the country is entangled in a civil war between the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, and a number of armed groups aligned with the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA).