Palestine Extends State of Emergency to Contain the Spread of COVID-19

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Wed Nov 18 2020

The Gaza Strip's different sectors still work under the emergency measures that the Palestine’s President Mahmoud Abbas declared in last March after the discovery of COVID-19 cases in Bethlehem city, southern West Bank. The emergency measures increased in the Gaza Strip after the announcement of the first COVID-19 cases outside the quarantine centers on 25, August. The government imposed a complete lockdown in all governorates, and closed mosques, wedding halls and clubs, and prevented gatherings to contain the spread of the virus. Despite the imposed lockdown, that includes the closure of all commercial stores of different kinds from 5:00pm and preventing weddings and mourning gatherings, the COVID-19 cases are continuing to increase; today on Wednesday, 18 of November 2020, (600) new Coronavirus cases were recorded in Gaza in the last 24 hours, this is considered the highest number recorded so far. Despite the seriousness of the situation and the increasing of COVID-19 cases, the health sector in Gaza is still under control, according to the statements of the Vice Chairman of the Governmental Committee in the Gaza Strip, Mousa Al-Sammak, who called on citizens to adhere to preventive measures in order to save their lives. He added that the government is going to impose a total lockdown if the number of COVID-19 cases increases.