Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) WHO Situation Report 59

Coronavirus disease 2019?(COVID-19) Situation Report 59

Issued 14?January?2021

Highlights

The oPt has witnessed a significant decrease in the numbers of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in the reporting period
UN Experts call on Israel to ensure equal access to COVID-19 vaccines to Palestinians

GENEVA (14 January 2021) – UN human rights experts today called on Israel, the occupying power, to ensure swift and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for the Palestinian people under occupation. “Israel’s roll-out of its vaccination programme against the COVID-19 pandemic for its citizens has been impressive. In this early stage of the worldwide inoculation programme, Israel has delivered the vaccines to a higher percentage of its citizens than any other country,” the experts said.?.

WHO preparedness, readiness and response

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

Key Performance Indicators for COVID-19 Response in oPt?

Coordination,?planning?and monitoring?

Public health?restrictions, including?movement?restrictions in and between governorates?and on weekends,?continue in the West Bank until?17?January? to?contain?the COVID-19?spread
In the Gaza Strip, local authorities?slightly?eased the imposed movement restrictions.?As of?8 January?2021, night curfew?reduced to?20:00 to 07:00, while?the?weekend?lockdown?on?Fridays and Saturdays?will continue?until further notice.?Mosques re-opened on?weekdays, as of?10 January?and?attendance at?elementary schools resumed?for grades 1 – 6,?on?13 January.

Surveillance

The WHO risk assessment remains very high
This week, the oPt?witnessed a?significant?decrease in?newly?confirmed?COVID-19 cases,?with a?28%?drop to?5,957?cases?and an 11% drop in deaths to 137?for the reporting?period
The overall Case Fatality Rate (CFR)?is?at?1.1?%. The CFR is the proportion of deaths among identified confirmed?cases
Gaza now accounts for 50.7?% of all active cases in oPt, followed by the West Bank governorates of Nablus (9.4%), East Jerusalem?(8.7%),?Ramallah (7.5%), Tulkarm (4,3%),?Hebron (3.8%),?Jenin (3.5%) and Bethlehem (2.9%)?for the reporting period.

Laboratory testing and diagnostics???

“This delivery is very welcome because these simple tests are done by taking a nasal or throat swab, detect the presence of the virus for people presenting symptoms in less than five minutes with high accuracy, which helps authorities identify at an early stage if a person is infected and needs self-isolate,”?said Abdelnaser Soboh, WHO’s Health Emergency and Coordination Officer in Gaza about WHO’s delivery of?100,000 COVID-19 rapid antigen tests on January 11 to provide rapid testing to the local health authorities in the Gaza Strip.??

This delivery was made possible thanks to the Government of?Kuwait.

The number of tests conducted in the oPt has decreased by 13% during the reporting period (8 – 14 January), with 28,011 tests conducted compared to the previous week
In the Gaza Strip, an average of 1,930 tests per day have been conducted in the past week (8 – 14 January) with a positivity rate of 20.4%, indicating every fifth person is testing positive and testing should be scaled up. On 12 January, health authorities reported enough COVID-19 tests for 13 days until 24 January
On 11 January, WHO delivered 30,000 sample collection swabs and 100,000 COVID-19 rapid antigen tests to the local health authorities in the Gaza Strip (pictured).

A number of?essential?laboratory?items were this week?delivered to the Ministry of Health’s?central?public?health?lab in Ramallah by?WHO.??The delivery is one of many supported by the Norwegian Government to upgrade the central lab and enhance its capacity to?detect and report public health threats, such as COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and reduce associated illness and death.?

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

As of?14?January,?the overall occupancy rate?of dedicated?COVID-19?hospital?beds in the?Gaza Strip is?34%,?with?183?of 540?beds occupied.??Currently,?23?of the 90 Intensive Care Unit?(ICU)?beds?(26%)?are occupied, including?two?patients on?invasive mechanical?ventilation.

COVID-19 Vaccine??

The Palestinian Authority?MoH,?with support from partners,?is proceeding with?preparations?to be ready to receive the first vaccinations?through the global?, including the?development of the COVID-19 National Deployment and Vaccination Plan to outline costed strategies for the deployment, implementation and monitoring of the COVID-19 vaccines in the?oPt
In parallel, the PA is in direct negotiations with pharmaceutical companies and other countries to secure additional vaccine?quantities.?The?MoH?has authorized the use of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine under its own emergency use authorization procedure. The PA will reportedly receive the first shipment within one month and delivery is expected to be complete by end April 2021.

Risk?Communications?and Community Engagement?

The?COVID-19 Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Campaign, led by WHO, UNICEF and?MoH?and supported by partners continues to share health information and address misinformation through its national campaign
A?revised national?RCCE?strategy?for COVID-19?is being?finalised?which includes a new focus on community engagement and two-way communication to?support the rollout and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines?in the?community
Featured below are social media cards and videos with messages?to support vaccine?uptake?which have been distributed?as part of the national COVID-19 campaign in the past month.?All campaign materials, by topic,?are?
To receive the?RCCE?materials?on a?fortnightly?basis please?contact?Arwa?Mhanna? at WHO.

How do I know COVID-19 vaccines are safe???

Why it is important to get COVID-19 vaccine

Will the vaccine be available for everyone???

?Follow?prevention measures while?vaccines are being developed and introduced