麻豆APP

occupied Palestinian territory, issued 13?August 2020
Information for period: 5 March – 13?August?2020

Highlights

• Number of people testing positive for COVID-19 continues to?increase?in the West Bank
• The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has surpassed 20,000 in the occupied Palestinian?territory
• The Palestinian Authority has?further eased restrictions, in accordance with strict health measures
• WHO delivered a new PCR machine to Gaza to enable rapid?testing?for COVID-19

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

Below is an infographic highlighting WHO’s Key Performance Indicators since the COVID-19 response began:

Coordination,?planning?and monitoring

• In the West Bank,?OCHA’s?Inter-Cluster?Coordination?Group (ICCG) led two needs assessment missions of?governmental isolation?centres on?10 August. The first mission visited?two isolation centres in?Nablus and?one?centre?in Jenin while the?second?visited two centres in Jericho and?Nweima?in the Jordan valley
• In the Gaza?Strip, representatives?from WHO and the ICCG?participated in an assessment visit to the?newly-constructed?quarantine in Deir Al Balah in the middle governorate. The visit was organized by OCHA to assess the progress of work at the quarantine?centre?and?identify ways of supporting the centre?to accommodate Palestinians returning to Gaza
• Through?the activation of the logistics cluster by the humanitarian coordinator,?most of the?humanitarian shipments?pending clearance have been processed;?a mechanism for the?coordination of access for medical referral patients from Gaza to essential services outside?has been agreed, following the suspension of bilateral agreements and coordination in response to Israel’s threatened annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank. The?final operationalization of?the agreed?third-party?facilitation?through WHO?still requires some further follow-up by authorities to put the necessary arrangements in place.

The?Palestinian Authority?decided on?12?August to?cautiously?lift some restrictions.?In accordance with strict health measures, it was decided to implement the following measures:

• Allow Friday prayers to be held in public and open squares, while taking all preventive measures in spacing, wearing masks and bringing carpets for the worshipers
• Allow the opening of shops and various other economic activities on Fridays and Saturdays, while strictly adhering to the public safety measures set by the Ministry of Health?protocols
• Continue?to close wedding halls and mourning homes and prohibit all forms of gathering that constitute an environment?which could encourage?the spread of the virus
• Tighten?control over compliance with public safety measures, placing the capabilities of all directorates and their employees in various governorates under the governors ’command, to form monitoring teams alongside the security forces, to ensure that owners of commercial and industrial establishments and public transport abide by the preventive measures and punishments stipulated?by law
• Continue to close affected areas in villages, camps and neighbourhoods within cities.

• The WHO risk assessment remains very high for the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt)
• The number of people testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 continues to?rise
• The total number of cases is?20,525?including?20,444?cases?in the West Bank?and?81?in the Gaza Strip
• Since 1?August?(to?13?August?as of 14:00) the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) has averaged?406?cases per day, with?5,287?new cases and?30?fatalities
• Most cases recorded are from Hebron (9,747), East Jerusalem (5,034),?Jerusalem (1,585), Ramallah (1,220),?Bethlehem (919),?Nablus (657),?Qalqilya (310), Jenin (209) and?Tulkarm?(202).?Only two?governorates (Salfit?and?Tubas) continue to?record low case numbers.?A total of?270?health workers are among those confirmed cases
• 21 patients are in a serious condition (ICU), with four requiring mechanical ventilation?(as of?12?August, 14:00)
• To-date, the?Ministry of?Health (MoH) reported a total of?12,536?cases have?recovered:?12,466?in?the West Bank (including?3,350?in East Jerusalem)?and?70?in Gaza.?One hundred and fifteen?people?have died,?with?an?overall case fatality rate (CFR) of 0.57%
• Less than half (45.8%) of all confirmed cases are male (7,099?cases) and about?56,7%?of all cases (11,641?cases) are below the age of 50 years in the oPt, excluding East Jerusalem
• The Egypt-Gaza Rafah Border has?opened?for three days, from 10-13 August. More than?1,000?returnees have already entered?the?Gaza?Strip?in the first two days,?all of them were directed to designated facilities where they will complete a compulsory period of 21 days of quarantine.

• A total of?224,592?laboratory samples have been tested for COVID-19 according to the?MoH, with?14,478?samples tested in the Gaza Strip
• WHO delivered a new PCR machine to local health authorities in Gaza to help carrying out rapid tests for COVID-19 suspected cases and rapid contact tracing purposes (see image).?The machine has been procured with the support of oPt Humanitarian Fund.

• 15,110?Palestinians are in quarantine (home or facility-based) to prevent further spread of the disease
• In the Gaza Strip,?1,446?people are in one of?12?quarantine facilities which include health?facilities,?hotels or other designated buildings
• WHO procured and delivered a shipment to?UNRWA (pictured).?These essential Personal Protective Equipment items will help to protect UNRWA frontline health staff and medical teams in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and will support infection prevention and control efforts. Thanks?to the?generous support of the Government of Kuwait
• WHO supported the training of 17?MoH?maternity staff on infection prevention and control measures, including donning and doffing?personal protective equipment and waste?management.

Pictured are social media cards used as part of the RCCE campaign to promote?protecting the elderly during COVID-19 (left)?and?advice?to avoid substance abuse?(right).??

• RCCE continues in response to the surge in COVID-19 cases in the West Bank
• WHO, UNICEF, the?MoH?and partners are focusing communication efforts with municipalities, media and NGOs around all areas with clusters of cases (Hebron, East Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Nablus) to disseminate public health messages to help control the spread of COVID-19
• Latest key messages (12 –25 August) focus on advice for?people?who are:?experiencing domestic violence,?feeling stressed and angry,?going back to school, responsible for protecting the?elderly,and?those abusing substances.
• A new 13-part COVID-19 radio series supported by RCCE is being broadcast on?Ajyal?radio network every Thursday online and via 22 Palestinian stations – frequencies are here), starting from Thursday July 30th. First two episodes?are available her:??and?