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Highlights

• New COVID-19?infections in the Gaza Strip continue?to?decline?slowly, but?deaths are at record highs,?and with?a?drop in testing?–?uncertainty?prevails
• In the West Bank,?cases also continue to subside, but?hospitals remain near full capacity?with over 90% of ICU beds?occupied
• COVAX delivers another 72,000 AstraZeneca vaccines to the oPt: 43,200 doses?go to?the Nablus cold store in West Bank,?while?28,800?go to Gaza Strip.

Key Performance Indicators for COVID-19 Response in oPt?

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.

Coordination,?planning?and monitoring?

• The PA announced on 3 April that the West Bank lockdown will continue from Sunday 4 April till 3 May,?with restaurants, shops, cafes, businesses, companies and ministries operating?at 30%?capacity
• In the Gaza Strip, local authorities updated their restrictive measures to include prohibiting vehicular movement on weekends (Fridays and Saturdays) and imposing?a?nightly curfew from sunset (~7:00pm) to dawn (~04:30am) on?weekdays
• Decisive public health measures and strict adherence to hygiene protocols and physical distancing continue to be essential to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Surveillance

• The WHO risk assessment remains very high:?COVID-19?infections in the Gaza Strip?account for?two-thirds of all?cases in the oPt,?with some?signs of?reaching a plateau but?the situation remains?critical; in the?West Bank,?a similar story, with?new?infections declining slowly, but?hospitals still?struggling
• The breakdown of active COVID-19 cases across the oPt is as follows:?Gaza Strip?(66.4%),?followed by?the West Bank governorates of Nablus?(12.8%), Jenin?(3.3%),?Tulkarm?(4.9%),?Ramallah?(3.5%),?Hebron?(2.7%),?Qalqilya?(1.4%)?and Bethlehem?and Tubas both?(1.0%)
• The overall Case Fatality Rate (CFR)?across oPt?remains at?1.1 %.?The CFR is the proportion of deaths among identified confirmed?cases
• A new B1.351 variant which was initially detected in S. Africa has recently been identified in the West Bank. This is in addition to the virulent B.1.1.7 variant (first identified in the UK) which has been driving cases in both West Bank and Gaza.

Laboratory testing and diagnostics

• The number of tests conducted in the oPt has decreased by 17% during the reporting period (16 – 22?April), with 37,529 tests?conducted
• In the Gaza Strip, an average of?3,174?tests per day have been conducted over the past week (16 – 22?April) with a positivity rate of 36%.

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

• In the?Gaza?Strip, health authorities have increased?COVID-19 bed capacity?to 587 beds, at?Turkish and European Gaza Hospitals, in addition?to?four?other public hospitals (Shifa, Nasser, Indonesian, and?Al-Aqsa)
• As of?22?April, the overall occupancy rate of COVID-19 dedicated hospital beds in the?Gaza Strip is?66%, with 387?of 587?beds occupied.?As of 21?April,?54?of the 77 Intensive Care?Unit (ICU) beds?were occupied (70%), with?11 patients requiring invasive mechanical?ventilation
• The COVID-19 designated hospitals in the West Bank are still struggling near full capacity,?with 91% occupancy in ICUs, and ventilator usage at 30%
• On 19 April, WHO received shipments of?reagents distributed by the Infectious Hazards Program (IHP) in Cairo: five sets containing 200 PCR detection kits for COVID-19 and also for influenza were delivered to the PA MoH.

Maintaining Essential Health Services

East Jerusalem?

• East Jerusalem?has?witnessed a significant improvement in the epidemiological situation,?with just 46 cases of COVID-19 reported during the last four days. St. Joseph hospital, the main COVID-19 hospital in?EJ?closed?its?two coronavirus-dedicated units (50-bed?capacity) on 19 April?2021?due to decreased numbers of patients. As of 21 April, there are only six patients in Al?Makased?hospital (4?of them?on ICU) and three patients in Augusta Victoria hospital.?In all,?282 people have died in the city since the start of the pandemic last year
• The latest vaccination data for residents of EJ show that?153,000 people have received their?first dose?of whom?130,000 have received?a?second dose.

COVID-19 Vaccination Update

Latest?vaccine?arrivals

• On 29 March, 100,000 Sinopharm vaccines arrived in West Bank as a donation from China:?90,000 for WB, and 10,000?yet to be delivered to?Gaza
• On 30 March a further 25,000 AstraZeneca?(AZ)?vaccines were also delivered to oPt from the Serum Institute of India
• On 13 April, 48,000 doses of AZ?vaccines?purchased bilaterally by the PA?MoH?arrived in the?oPt, of which 10,000 doses will be delivered to?Gaza
• On 17 April, an additional 72,000 doses of AZ vaccines arrived in the oPt through the COVAX facility: 43,200 doses were delivered to the West Bank on 19 April, while Gaza got 28,800?doses
• PA Health Minister Mai?Alkaila?stated on??(20 April) that the?OPt?has bought 4.5 million doses of the Pfizer and Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines at a cost of $27.5 million.?Alkaila?said the vaccines will arrive ‘soon’.

Vaccination coverage

• As of 22?April, 167,711?people have been vaccinated in total across the oPt: 132,621 in the West Bank, and 35,090 in Gaza. These figures represent around 3.4% of the total Palestinian?population
• Israel completed on 21?April its ‘second phase’ of vaccinating over 100,000 Palestinian workers who received their first doses on 7 March ()
• The PA?MoH has established a committee to oversee the?prioritisation?of the COVID-19 vaccination with members drawn from health professionals, academia, UN agencies and civil society?organisations.

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