Coronavirus Disease 2019 (OPT) WHO Situation Report 82

Coronavirus disease 2019?(COVID-19) Situation Report 82

Issued 07 October?2021

Highlights

New?COVID-19 infections?appear to be slowing down?across the oPt,?although numbers are still rising?in both?the?West Bank and Gaza?Strip, with?over three quarters?of cases remaining?in?Gaza.
Positivity?in the oPt is still?high?at?17.63%,?due to the high positivity rate in Gaza despite the significant decrease in the West Bank.??A?true analysis of case numbers?in Gaza?remains?difficult?– testing needs to be substantially increased overall.

Palestinian National Institute for Public Health (PNIPH)?

Palestinian National Institute for Public Health (PNIPH)?Workshops:??during the months of September and October the Palestinian National Institute for Public?Health, an on-going WHO project,?conducted three?educational?workshops?in Gaza?on Robson Ten Group of classification System?(TGCS).

The workshops aimed? at?improving?the quality of maternal health services during and beyond?the?COVID-19 pandemic? through?providing?orientation?and Training of Trainers (TOT)?to?maternal health providers on?the?adoption?of?TGCS?for appropriate use of caesarean section.

The?activities?targeted?thirty?maternity senior?experts and?Hospital?Managers?along with fifty-five?obstetricians, midwives and maternity supervisors?at the Ministry of Health?(MoH)?resulting in?an?agreement?to?mainstream?TGCS in all maternity services

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 state of emergency over COVID-19 decreed by President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank?continues in place.
Medical staff and priority groups such as elderly and sick are to receive the third ‘booster’ dose, while universities must vaccinate up to 70% of administrative and academic staff for the school year to continue
The Health Cluster?conducted two workshops, in Gaza and West Bank,?to support partners in writing?their?health?project proposals?for?the?2022?Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP).?The workshops also focused on?mainstreaming cross-cutting issues such as gender, protection against sexual exploitation and abuse,?accountability to affected populations,?and disability. A total of 72 persons have participated in the workshops, representing 47 UN, International and National organizations.

Surveillance

The WHO risk assessment remains high, with 23,318 active COVID-19 cases across the oPt. Infections in the Gaza Strip still account for the majority of all cases, at 75.2%.
In the West Bank, numbers of cases are slowing down, and are now at 5,766. Positivity dropped to 7.31% from 12.7% a fortnight ago.
The overall Case Fatality Rate (CFR) across oPt remains at 1%. The CFR is the proportion of deaths among identified confirmed cases.

Laboratory testing and diagnostics

The number of tests conducted in the oPt is largely unchanged during the?first week of?October, with 43,664?tests conducted, and an overall positivity of?18%.
In the Gaza Strip, testing has decreased, with an average of 3,380 tests per day?over the past two weeks, while?positivity remains rather high at an average of 31%.
As part of its ongoing efforts in maintaining access to essential COVID-19 testing in the Gaza Strip,?WHO procured and delivered 60,000 viral collection swabs and?47,500 antigen rapid detection tests?(Ag-RDTs),?which allow rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 in suspected cases presenting with symptoms. This activity was made possible with support from the Humanitarian Pooled Fund.

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

In the Gaza Strip, the number of patients requiring hospitalization is slowly decreasing, but overall bed occupancy is still quite high at 55%, with 306 beds out of a total of 555 currently occupied.
Bed occupancy at?intensive care units (ICU) is also showing a?slight improvement, with?45?patients?(50%)?occupying?a total capacity of 90?beds, including 10 on mechanical ventilators.
In?the West Bank, hospitals continue to respond to?COVID-19?situation?accordingly: ICU bed occupancy?is?79% (compared to 72%?I the previous report)?with?80?ICU beds occupied out of?101,?and?19?patients on ventilators?(up from 15?two weeks ago).

Breastfeeding during COVID-19?

Breastfeeding during COVID-19 – Japanese fund?

The Palestinian?MoH?and WHO launched a campaign to raise awareness on breastfeeding and COVID-19?to?respond to spreading concern by lactating mothers with confirmed?or?suspected COVID-19 infection, and their need for guidance on the continuation of breastfeeding.? Coinciding with?the third wave of COVID-19 outbreak in the Gaza Strip, awareness sessions were held in the maternity department at?Al-Shifa Hospital?to?encourage?mothers?to early initiate and continue exclusive breastfeeding up to six months of life?and?debunk misinformation about COVID-19 transmission to infants through breastfeeding.?Sixty-thousand flyers and?two-thousand?embroidered masks were distributed?through the campaign.

COVID-19 Vaccination Update

Vaccination?Numbers?/?News?(as of 06 October)

1,439,049?people have been vaccinated?in total across the oPt:?1,007,835?in the West Bank, and?431,214?in Gaza.?These figures represent around?47.76%?of the?target?Palestinian?population?(16?years and above).
Of these numbers,?a?total?of?1,156,653?are?fully vaccinated:?863,669?in West Bank, and?292,984?in Gaza.
Health authorities?in the Gaza Strip?announced the plan to start?administering?a “booster dose” of the vaccine?for?those who have?completed their vaccines?at least?six?months ago,?prioritizing?the?elderly.