The Health Ministry in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip reported that two residents contracted coronavirus late Saturday, after returning from a trip to Pakistan last week.
The Health Ministry in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip reported that two residents contracted coronavirus late Saturday, after returning from a trip to Pakistan last week.
With the hope of preventing the spread of the disease, and in accordance with the directives given provided by the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA), the two men, aged 30 and 40, were not allowed to enter Gaza and have since been isolated in the Rafah border crossing shared with Egypt, in the southern Gaza strip.
The ministry also announced that mosques, restaurants and cafes in Gaza will be closed until further notice, in a bid to combat the epidemic.
It is estimated that if the coronavirus were to spread in the Gaza Strip, an unprecedented humanitarian crisis would likely occur, due to the Palestinian enclave’s high population density, under-equipped and unprepared healthcare system, and the ongoing Israeli-Egyptian blockade of tha area. Hamas authorities have also been allegedly preparing to build 1,000 quarantine rooms near the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt, in event of a widespread outbreak.
The announcement comes amid reports of a rising number of coronavirus cases in the Palestinian territories, which has since Saturday risen to 30, including 29 in Bethlehem and one in Tulkarem.
As reported by The Jerusalem Post