麻豆APP

Highlights

• Cases have surged in the West Bank?in the past two weeks?following lifting the public health restrictions,?with 873 cases confirmed since 13?June
• WHO and UNICEF and partners?in close consultation with the Ministry of Health?are?targeting?the?population of?Hebron?Governorate?with health advice and?guidance
• WHO?procured?and delivered?three?shipments of essential medical equipment and supplies in the reporting?period

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 situation in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).

Simulation exercises have been conducted in the past week with local health staff in the Gaza Strip to strengthen their?capacity?to respond to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.?The?training was delivered?by?MDM-France,?in partnership with?WHO and?the?Ministry of Health,?and?supported by EU humanitarian aid.

Coordination,?planning?and monitoring

• The suspension of bilateral agreements?and coordination?in response?to Israel’s threatened annexation of parts?of?the occupied West Bank?is?impacting?access to essential services outside for referral patients as well as import and customs clearance of essential medical equipment and supply?shipments.?This?continues to be a challenge.

Three pallets?of essential medicines to help manage patients with COVID-19 have been delivered by WHO to local health authorities in the Gaza Strip. With thanks to UK aid.???

Surveillance

• The WHO risk assessment?remains?very high?for?the?occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).?With?the?easing?lockdown?and?restrictive?measures, there has been a significant increase in the number of?people?who?tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.??In the past fortnight?873?(since 13 June) cases have been confirmed in?the?West Bank,?predominantly in?Hebron?(85%).?On?23 June, oPt experienced the largest increase, with?194 confirmed cases in a single day in the West Bank
• The total number of cases in oPt is?1,568, including?1,496?cases in the West Bank and?72?in the Gaza?Strip. In the West Bank, most cases are?recorded from?Hebron (868),?East Jerusalem (206), Jerusalem?Governorate (153), followed by?Bethlehem (97), Ramallah (86) and Nablus (44).?A total of 11 health workers are among those confirmed?cases
• To-date, the Ministry of Health (MoH) reported a total of 616 cases have recovered: 560 in West Bank (including 174 in East Jerusalem) and 56 in Gaza. Five people have died in the oPt: case fatality rate (CFR) is 0.32%
• About?two-thirds (44.5%) of all confirmed cases are male (699?cases) and about?85% of all cases (1,033?cases) are below the age of 50 years in the oPt, excluding East Jerusalem.

Laboratory diagnostics??

WHO?delivered?five pallets?of essential medical supplies?including?126,000 surgical masks and 84,000 gloves?to protect frontline health workers that care for COVID-19 patients?in the Gaza Strip on June 24.??Thanks to?the?generous financial?support of the?Government of Kuwait.

• A total of?82,581?laboratory samples have been tested for COVID-19 according to the?MoH, with?12,393?samples tested in the Gaza Strip

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

• 5,679? Palestinians are?in quarantine (home or facility-based) for monitoring of symptoms and ensuring?prevention?of further spread
• In Gaza,?280?people are in one of the?four?operational quarantine facilities which include designated facilities,?hotels?or other designated buildings
• WHO supported the?MoH?in conducting a workshop targeting 30 participants from the?primary?healthcare?directorate to discuss the current COVID-19?strategy?in the Gaza Strip,?in terms of epidemiology, clinical picture, case detection and management, and infection prevention and?control
• In the reporting period (from 12 – 25 June), WHO has?procured?and delivered the following items to health authorities in the Gaza Strip (see images above and below):
  • Five pallets?of essential medical supplies including?126,000 surgical masks and 84,000 gloves?to protect front line health workers that care for COVID-19 patients. The delivery on 25 June?also?featured coveralls (suit),?N95?masks,?face shields, alcogel and?disinfectant, thanks to?the generous support of the?Government of Kuwait
  • Three pallets of?essential medicines and supplies to?support case management and treatment. The medicines and supplies will be used in?dedicated COVID-19?facilities, known as?Respiratory?Triage?Centres, which?are?separated from nearby Emergency Departments of Gaza’s five main hospitals to?ensure?containment?and?prevent further?spread?of the disease.?The delivery has been supported?by?UK aid as part of a USD $500,000 commitment to?support?the response to COVID-19 in the oPt
• In continuation of their partnership to strengthen local?capacities?in responding to COVID-19, WHO supported MDM-France in conducting the following activities during reporting period:
  • On 21 June,?a?training was organised for 13 MoH?officials to strengthen?their knowledge on?operational policies of?respiratory triage center (RTC)
  • On 22 and 23 June,?60?participants from?MOH attended?practical training,?in Khan Younis governorate,?in preparation for?a?simulation exercise, which took place on 24 June at the RTC near Nasser Hospital, with the objective to boost the capacities at the?RTC?to deal with and manage COVID-19 suspected cases
  • The activities aimed?to ensure implementation of safety measures and?infection prevention?and control precautions,?to ensure?correct patient pathways?and?adequate?case management, and to improve coordination and?documentation in respiratory triage centers.

East Jerusalem?

The?EU?and WHO?delivered personal protective equipment and medical items to East Jerusalem Hospitals to support preparedness for??of?all six network’s hospital

• As of June?25,?2020?(10:00?am), the?Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health?reported?206?COVID-19?cases in East Jerusalem.?Two deaths have been reported?(CFR-?0.97%)?and?174?recovered in the same period
• A substantial delivery of personal protective equipment and medical items was supplied on 17 June by the European Union and?WHO?to the East Jerusalem Hospitals Network (EJHN) to support preparedness for COVID-19.??The delivery includes personal protective equipment and?disinfectant?items for all six of the network’s hospitals.??The needs of?the?EJHN were a priority in the 麻豆APP Inter-agency COVID-19 Response Plan released in April 2020
• This EU contribution is part of an EU humanitarian aid grant that helps WHO scale up the?capacity?of Palestine’s health system for testing, case management and infection,?prevention?and control in response to the COVID-19
• ?at Augusta Victoria Hospital on June 17,?.?This delivery generously supported by?EU?Humanitarian Aid.

Health Access?

Risk Communications and Community Engagement??

• Risk Communications and Community Engagement has ramped up again in response to the surge in COVID-19 cases in the West Bank
• WHO and UNICEF, with support from partners are working with the Ministry of Health, media and NGOs around Hebron to disseminate public health messages to help stop the spread of COVID-19
• The agencies have released an emergency media pack, which provides key social media, radio and TV health messages for use in affected areas, where there are clusters of COVID-19 cases, such as Hebron
• WHO and UNICEF have distributed more than 80,000 brochures via partners in Hebron on home quarantine and preventative measures.

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