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HEALTH-VIRUS-PALESTINIANS-GAZA
Gaza authorities confirm first two COVID-19 cases
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, March 22, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Authorities
in Gaza confirmed the first two cases of novel coronavirus on Sunday,
identifying the individuals as Palestinians who had travelled to Pakistan and
were held in quarantine on their return.
The United Nations has warned that a COVID-19 outbreak in Gaza could be
disastrous, given the high poverty rates and weak health system in the
coastal strip under Israeli blockade since 2007.
But Gaza’s health ministry said the two people who tested positive had been
held in quarantine since their return from Pakistan on Thursday and did not
interact with the wider population.
“These two cases were recorded among those who returned to Gaza … (and)
did not mix with the residents of the Gaza Strip,” deputy health minister
Yousef Abu Al-Reesh told reporters.
The sick, identified as two men, were in stable condition, the health
ministry said.
Israel has enforced a blockade on Gaza since 2007, when Islamist group
Hamas seized control of the territory.
Israel argues the measures are necessary to isolate Hamas, considered a
terrorist organisation by most Western countries. Israel and Hamas have
fought three wars since 2008.
Movement in and out of the territory — severely restricted by Israel and
Egypt before the pandemic — has tightened in response to the coronavirus.
Authorities in Gaza have said that more than 2,700 Palestinians are in
home-isolation, mostly people who had returned from Egypt.
– ‘Disaster of gigantic proportions’ –
The head of the World Health Organization’s Palestinian office, Gerald
Rockenschaub, told AFP this week that Israeli restrictions and political
tensions have caused Gaza’s health facilities to deteriorate over the past
decade.
Gaza has only 60 intensive care (ICU) beds for its two million people and
not all are operational due to staff shortages, he said.
In response to the pandemic, Israel has announced an increased supply of
medical equipment to Gaza, including hundreds of COVID-19 test kits
transferred this week.
Hamas authorities are also working to build up to 1,000 new isolation rooms
near the Rafah crossing with Egypt.
The Gaza director of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees
UNRWA, Matthias Schmale, told AFP this week that it would be “an illusion to
think you can manage (an epidemic) in a closed-off space like this.”
“Everything I am hearing is if the outbreak reaches the magnitude where you
need more than 60 ICU beds to treat, it will become increasingly difficult
and could well turn into a disaster of gigantic proportions,” he said.
Palestinians suffering from cancer and other serious diseases are currently
allowed to leave Gaza through Israel for treatment inside the Jewish state or
in the occupied West Bank.
It is not yet clear if Israel, which has imposed tight restrictions on its
own population in response to the pandemic, will allow seriously ill
coronavirus patients to be transferred from the Strip.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0825 hrs