BEIRUT, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 lockdown time is not that boring for Khalil Nabulsi, who lives in Kfar Kila of southeastern Lebanon.
For Nabulsi, the complete lockdown is necessary due to the surge in COVID-19 cases in Lebanon and it does not bother him and his family too much.
"During the closure, we make household chores, play cards and chess, and contact friends and relatives through telephone," the elderly man said.
Nabulsi's wife Hana told Xinhua that the lockdown allows the family members to assist her in the house work.
Wafaa Abu al-Ezz, a teacher in the Nabatieh official vocational training , told Xinhua that she spends the lockdown time by giving around six hours a day of online lessons to her students.
As a mother of three children, she also devotes about two hours a day to help her children with their lessons.
"In the evening, I spend some time over the phone speaking with my friends who are infected with COVID-19 to follow up on their conditions," Abu al-Ezz said.
Nada Ayan, a young employee at a renowned bank in Lebanon, spends most of her time preparing the Greek language exams to be held later this month.
"I am working on acquiring the Greek nationality and learning the language is one of the pre-requisites. So I try to spend my time doing something useful," she told Xinhua.
Long period of lockdown prompts several initiatives to be launched to deal with the psychological health of COVID-19 patients and citizens who are stuck at home.
One of the initiatives, launched by Hussein Hamieh, a postgradute in Clinical Psychology at the Lebanese University, allows 1,400 clinical psychologists to receive calls through municipalities, non-governmental organizations, associations and hospitals all over the country from people in need of psychological help.
"We have been receiving a great amount of phone calls from people who feel bad for staying home for long hours. But it is important to say that people must try to deal positively and responsibly with COVID-19 quarantine to overcome the current tough period with as much positive attitude as possible," Hamieh told Xinhua.
Lebanon declared, for the first time since the outbreak of COVID-19, a total lockdown from Jan. 14 to Feb. 8 to curb the spread of COVID-19. Enditem