Spike in Gaza Worries UN
Palestine Extends State of Emergency Over Coronavirus
RAMALLAH (Dispatches) – Palestine has announced an extension of the state of emergency for one month to battle the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA says.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree extending the state of emergency for another month throughout the Palestinian territories starting September 4.
The move came as Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila announced 806 new COVID-19 cases, three fatalities and 692 recoveries in the last 24 hours.
According to the latest coronavirus data, the confirmed cases in the occupied territories reached 32,817.
Gaza has reported hundreds of coronavirus infections since the first case emerged in the general population last week, and a UN aid group warned that a lack of key medical data-x-items including ventilators could make it hard to treat the disease effectively.
Densely populated and widely impoverished due to the blockade imposed by the Zionist regime for over a decade, the enclave has been on lockdown since authorities confirmed four infections from a single family on Aug. 24. It was the first time the virus was detected outside quarantine zones set up for people returning from abroad.
Since then, 603 new cases have been recorded, nearly all among the general population, with four deaths since Aug. 24, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The Gaza Strip is home to two million Palestinians in cities, towns and refugee camps squeezed within an area of 360 square km, with its borders sealed off by the occupying regime and Egypt.
"Gaza is probably the most densely populated place on the face of the earth so measures to contain a virus as violent as COVID-19 are always extremely difficult to put in place,” said Tamara Alrifai, spokeswoman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) devoted to Palestinian refugees.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree extending the state of emergency for another month throughout the Palestinian territories starting September 4.
The move came as Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila announced 806 new COVID-19 cases, three fatalities and 692 recoveries in the last 24 hours.
According to the latest coronavirus data, the confirmed cases in the occupied territories reached 32,817.
Gaza has reported hundreds of coronavirus infections since the first case emerged in the general population last week, and a UN aid group warned that a lack of key medical data-x-items including ventilators could make it hard to treat the disease effectively.
Densely populated and widely impoverished due to the blockade imposed by the Zionist regime for over a decade, the enclave has been on lockdown since authorities confirmed four infections from a single family on Aug. 24. It was the first time the virus was detected outside quarantine zones set up for people returning from abroad.
Since then, 603 new cases have been recorded, nearly all among the general population, with four deaths since Aug. 24, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The Gaza Strip is home to two million Palestinians in cities, towns and refugee camps squeezed within an area of 360 square km, with its borders sealed off by the occupying regime and Egypt.
"Gaza is probably the most densely populated place on the face of the earth so measures to contain a virus as violent as COVID-19 are always extremely difficult to put in place,” said Tamara Alrifai, spokeswoman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) devoted to Palestinian refugees.