Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report 44

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report 44

occupied Palestinian territory, issued 17 September?2020
Information for period: 5 March – 17?September 2020

Highlights

COVID-19 cases in?the oPt?so?far?this month?rose?by?30%?in the oPt?and 83% in?the?Gaza?Strip
WHO?continued to?deliver?critical medical equipment to support the response in?the?Gaza?Strip

Have you ever heard of a triage kit????
This week WHO delivered five of them to be used at Gaza’s five main hospitals. They are?an?essential part of?the?emergency response?and support?frontline health workers in chaotic situations to:?

organize and keep order?
prioritize the needs of survivors??
get to work administering life-saving aid and?
maintain infection prevention and control.??

The kits will support 5,000 patients and 500 health workers during the COVID-19 outbreak. WHO also delivered?some?5,000 overalls to local health authorities in the Gaza?Strip.?Thanks to EU Humanitarian Aid for supporting this delivery?

WHO preparedness, readiness and response

WHO is continuing to work with partners to support Ministry of Health’s (MoH) efforts to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.

?Coordination,?planning?and monitoring ?

In the?Gaza Strip,?community?transmission?remains a serious concern due to capacity gaps?of?the health system.?All five governorates remain separated, with movement within each governorate allowed from?07:00 to 20:00, except for hotspot areas with clusters of cases.?Schools?remain?closed until further notice
WHO continues to?support?key priorities, including to scale-up testing?capacity?to 2.000 tests daily?and contact tracing;?enhance?case management capacity;?risk communication and community?engagement.?The provision of essential protective?equipment (PPE) for frontline health workers continues together with training in?infection?prevention and?control
Additional challenges?include:?access to information about available health and testing services; take up of COVID-19?free call?line 103; citizens avoiding medical treatment due to fear of infection
In the West Bank,?On 16 September, due to the increase in COVID-19 cases the Prime Minister instructed the security forces to tighten the procedures and penalties against any violators of?MoH?preventive measures (e.g. wearing facemasks, physical distancing, preventing large gathering etc)
All governorates reported temporary closure of several schools, due to confirmed COVID-19 cases amongst teachers and students, until tracing of the virus and disinfection of schools is complete. The Palestinian Authority is considering re-opening some schools for classes above grade four, according to a new classification which?takes into account?different locations and the number of confirmed cases (in classes and schools)
MoH?announced that starting from next Sunday 21, a new colour?classification of areas will be used, and levels of risks will be assigned
The Israeli?Government has?imposed a three-week lockdown starting Friday 18 September?at 14:00 to October 11 to address the spike in COVID-19 cases.?The lockdown will restrict people from travelling more than 500 meters from their homes, subject to exceptions for essential purposes. Businesses that serve customers in-person will be closed, but retailers selling essentials such as food and medicine will remain open.

Surveillance and Laboratory diagnostics? ?

The WHO risk assessment remains very high?as?the?number?of people testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 continues to?increase
The total number of cases?in oPt?increased to?43,345?including?41,169?cases?in the West Bank?and?2,176?in the Gaza Strip; 32 patients are in serious condition requiring?intensive care?unit (ICU)?treatment, with 10 requiring mechanical ventilation;?a total of 520 health workers are among those confirmed cases
So far?this month (till?September?17), the total number of COVID-19 cases has risen by?30%?or?13,407, an?average?of?788?cases per day.?In the Gaza Strip, cases have risen by 83% or?1,820,?an average of 109 cases per day for the same period. With?most cases?linked to?community transmission
The highest daily total for confirmed cases for oPt?was?recorded on 15?September??with?1,118
In the West Bank,?most cases recorded are from Hebron?(15,480)?and?East Jerusalem (9,502)
In the Gaza Strip,?the?cumulative?total of confirmed cases is?2,176, including?1,740?active cases,?16?deaths and?420?recovered;?two patients are?in a serious condition requiring ICU treatment and are connected to mechanical ventilators.?A total of?96?health workers?are?also?among the?confirmed?cases
To-date, the?Ministry of?Health?reported a total of?30,542?cases have?recovered:?30,122?in?the West Bank (including?7,482?in East Jerusalem)?and?420?in?Gaza.?Two?hundred and?seventy-eight?have died,?with?an?overall case fatality rate (CFR) of 0.64%
More?than half (52.3%) of all confirmed cases are?female?(17,715?cases) and?more than?two-third (70%)?of?all cases (23,806?cases) are below the age of 50 years.

Laboratory diagnostics???

A total of?359,873?laboratory samples have been tested for COVID-19 according to the?MoH.

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), Isolation and Case Management, Operations Support and Logistics?

Vital medical equipment which health workers can use to manage patients in the COVID-19 response was delivered to local health authorities in the Gaza Strip yesterday including:?

1 ECG Machine (to check a heart’s rhythm and electrical activity)?
100 stethoscopes (to listen to internal sounds in the human body)?
50 sphygmomanometers (to measure blood pressure)?

More items are on the way next week as part of this delivery generously funded by the oPt Humanitarian Fund.?

26,749?Palestinians are in quarantine?(home or facility-based) to prevent further spread of the?disease
In?the Gaza Strip,?186?people are in one of?3?quarantine?facilities which include health?facilities,?hotels or other designated?buildings
Capacity of health staff to manage severe and critical COVID-19 patients remain a concern and WHO with?health cluster partners is conducting a rapid assessment of Gaza?European Hospital’s capacities. Identified gaps are to be quickly addressed through technical support
On 12 September,?local health authorities?in Gaza released new criteria for discharging?COVID-19?patients from isolation?without requiring testing:
- For symptomatic patients: 14 days?after?a positive PCR test result or?after symptoms’ onset (whichever comes later). The last 3 days prior to the release must be without symptoms
- For asymptomatic COVID-19 patients: 14 days?after?a positive PCR test result
- Severely?immunocompromised patients and?at-risk groups: 24 days?after?a?positive PCR test result or?after symptoms’ onset (whichever comes later).?The last 3 days prior to the release must be without symptoms
This week, WHO delivered vital medical equipment which health workers can use to manage patients in the COVID-19 response was delivered to local health authorities in the Gaza Strip?this week, supported?by oPt HF and EU Humanitarian?Aid?(see images?for detail).

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