The PA health ministry says intensive care units for COVID-19 patients have reached 95 percent in the West Bank.
Schools in the West Bank will be closed for 12 days in a bid to halt a sharp rise in variable coronavirus infections, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said Saturday.
High schools free from shutdown that will begin on Sunday, adds Shtayyeh in a televised address, adding to the new restrictions prompted by a growing number of cases of detected coronavirus variants first in the United Kingdom and South Africa.
Intensive care units for COVID-19 patients have reached 95 percent in the West Bank and schools have been identified as a major cause of rapid spread of disease, the health ministry said.
On Thursday, they reported that a random sample of coronavirus patients showed that more than three-quarters of them were infected with the British variant.
The World Bank said in a report this week that the Palestinian regions have one of the lowest test rates in the Middle East and North Africa and that the favorable rate in the West Bank is greater than 21 percent, and Gaza 29 percent, indicate an uncontrolled spread of the pandemic.
The West Bank, where 3.1 million Palestinians live, has reported a total of 118,519 coronavirus cases and 1,406 deaths.
Gaza, where coronavirus restrictions have been gradually lifted since January, has 55,091 cases and 549 deaths within its population of two million.
With around 32,000 vaccine doses available to date, the Palestinians launched limited immunization programs in the West Bank and Gaza this month, starting with health workers.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) expects to receive the first COVAX passengers within weeks and says it also has supply contracts with Russia and drug dealer AstraZeneca, although doses have been low. slow to come. Shtayyeh said he expected shipments in March.
So far Israel has given 2,000 doses to the PA, with Palestinians complaining that Israel is evading its duties as an occupying power by not including the Palestinians in their inoculation program. Human rights groups and UN officials have also said Israel is concerned for the well-being of Palestinians.
Israel says that, under interim peace agreements, the PA is responsible for the vaccination campaign in the West Bank and Gaza.
Amid vaccine shortages in Palestinian territories, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial plan to send additional coronavirus vaccines to a group of friendly countries temporarily froze on Thursday.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki described Netanyahu’s plan as “political blackmail and immoral action”, accusing Israel of “exploiting the humanitarian needs of those countries”.