Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report 49

Coronavirus disease 2019?(COVID-19) Situation Report 49

occupied Palestinian territory, issued 22?October 2020
Information for period: 5 March – 22?October 2020

Highlights

WHO continues to deliver?vital?medical training,?equipment and supplies across the oPt to support the?COVID-19?response

Training to enhance health workers’ capacity to manage critical COVID-19 patients continues in the Gaza Strip, with the support of local health authorities and WHO.?Sixty junior doctors and 200 nurses will be learning about intensive care management protocols for COVID-19 patients, including patient assessment and monitoring, airway management and mechanical ventilation and infection prevention and control measures.??The training is funded by the Government of Canada??

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???

Support?to facilitate the?import?and delivery of essential?equipment?continues, see?images?and?detail below.

Surveillance??

The WHO risk assessment remains very high?as the?number of people testing positive for SARS-CoV-2?stabilizes at high average daily rates
From 1-?22?October, the total number of COVID-19 cases rose by?10,129?cases (on average 460?cases per day).?Five hundred and six?have died, with an?overall?case fatality rate (CFR) of 0.83%.

Laboratory diagnostics???

A total of?482,531?laboratory samples have been tested for COVID-19 according?to?MoH.

WHO delivered one automated RNA extraction machine which reduces the time required for the COVID-19 testing by almost half compared?to the manual RNA?extractor.?10 RNA extraction kits?to conduct up to 20,000 COVID-19 tests were delivered to help sustain?testing and control the spread of the virus

To help address?critical shortages?of COVID-19 testing supplies, UK aid has funded the purchase and delivery of 120,000 swabs to collect samples for COVID-19 tests. Pictured is the first batch of 5,000 swabs delivered by WHO to local health authorities in Gaza on October 21, which will help?to sustain?testing for COVID-19 in the Gaza Strip?

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

Seventy?health workers?in maternal and child health services?have undertaken infection?prevention training, conducted by the Palestinian National Institute of Public Health (PNIPH) and?WHO team. The training included discussions, lectures, and role-play activities and practical demonstrations

15,242?Palestinians are in quarantine (home or facility-based) to prevent further spread of the disease
In the Gaza?Strip,?a?total of 1,930?people with COVID-19?are in 12 isolation centers, including?the?two?dedicated COVID-19 treatment facilities:?Turkish and European Gaza?hospitals.?A further?158 people are in one of three quarantine facilities
WHO continues to coordinate and support the delivery of vital medical equipment for the COVID-19 response across Gaza and the West Bank (see images for details)
WHO provided Nasser Medical Complex with?two new tents that are already in use as part of the emergency departments?expansion?plan. The tents?serve as?Respiratory Triage Centres (RTCs) and are used to screen patients for COVID-19?symptoms?before they enter the hospital to prevent infection spreading and are supported?by?EU Humanitarian Aid.

East Jerusalem

As of October 21, 25 COVID-19 patients are being treated in?the two main?dedicated COVID-19 hospitals?of?the East Jerusalem Hospitals?Network. Of these,?13?are?at St Joseph Hospital and 12 (including five in critical condition) are at Al-?Makassed?Hospital.?In addition, four patients?with COVID-19?from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are being treated at Augusta Victoria Hospital, including a patient companion from Gaza
Four health workers at Al-Makassed?have COVID-19, while two remain in quarantine

Sustaining Essential Health Services: WHO Trauma Program????

WHO?is?working?with the Médecins Sans?Frontières?France (MSF-France) Osteomyelitis Treatment Unit to establish a referral system for patients with bone infections from the Limb Reconstruction Centre (LRC) in the Gaza?Strip.?Rates of bone infection are high among LRC patients and an increasing number of patients are showing signs of antibiotic resistance, which increases the?risk?of amputation and the risk of infection to other patients. There is currently no other provider that offers this specialised treatment
In the last two weeks, WHO delivered?essential medical?equipment?to the Limb Reconstruction Centre (LRC)?including?patient monitors,?defibrillators, an?electrocardiography?(ECG)?machine?and four?vital signs monitors
WHO is providing weekly online distance training sessions to continue specialised capacity?building.?A total of 118 Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) ambulance personnel and paramedics finished a six-week refresher course. Another six-week online training course for 149 emergency medical services personnel from local health authorities in the Gaza Strip began this week. In addition, weekly live online sessions at the Limb Reconstruction Centre run by medical experts from abroad are ongoing.

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