Palestinians 'optimistic' about preventing spread of coronavirus

Abbas: We will defeat the virus as we have defeated previous challenges

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivers a speech following the announcement by the U.S. President Donald Trump of the Mideast peace plan, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank January 28, 2020 (photo credit: REUTERS/RANEEN SAWAFTA)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivers a speech following the announcement by the U.S. President Donald Trump of the Mideast peace plan, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank January 28, 2020
(photo credit: REUTERS/RANEEN SAWAFTA)
One week after the discovery of the first coronavirus cases in the Palestinian Authority-controlled territories, Palestinian officials said on Thursday they were optimistic about the prospects of preventing the spread of the disease.
Severe and precautionary measures taken by the PA government have reduced the number of infected cases among Palestinians, the officials said.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday told Palestinian governors of several cities he was confident the Palestinians would defeat the coronavirus.
“We will defeat the virus as we have defeated previous difficult challenges,” Abbas said. “We are capable of overcoming this ordeal.”
The PA said its efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus have thus far been successful, noting that only one new case was detected over the past few hours, raising the number of infected patients to 31.
“We have passed the stage of preventing infection with the virus, and regrettably, it has become a reality,” PA government spokesman Ibrahim Milhem told the Palestinian news agency Wafa. “Now we are focusing our efforts on preventing the virus from spreading, and we have succeeded in that until now.”
By mid-Thursday the number of confirmed coronavirus cases among Palestinians reached 31 after one more patient from Beit Jala, adjoining Bethlehem, tested positive late Wednesday. Thirty of the cases are in Bethlehem and Beit Jala, while one is from Tulkarm in the northern West Bank.
Some 3,564 Palestinians have been placed in isolation for one week after the first infected cases were announced in the PA-controlled territories – most of them in the Bethlehem area.
The source of infection for the 31 patients is known, the PA Health Ministry said Thursday. The first seven cases in Beit Jala contracted the virus after coming in contact with Greek tourists, some of whom tested positive for the disease upon their return to Greece and one of whom has since died of COVID-19
The patient from Tulkarm became infected with the virus after coming in contact with an Israeli citizen who recently returned from Spain and was diagnosed with coronavirus, the ministry said.
A PA Health Ministry senior official said Palestinian authorities have managed to identify 95% of Palestinians who came in direct and indirect contact with patients infected with the virus.
The PA Religious Affairs Ministry announced restrictions on worshipers during mosque prayers in the context of efforts to curb and prevent the virus from spreading. The measures include, among other things, reducing the time of the Friday prayer sermon to less than 15 minutes and a ban on using water refrigerators in mosques.
The ministry called on worshipers to bring their own prayer carpets and to continue sterilizing mosques and restrooms. It also banned worshipers from staying overnight in mosques and urged anyone suffering from high fever, shortness of breath and colds not to attend prayers.
In the Gaza Strip, where no coronavirus cases had been confirmed by Thursday, the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry set up a field hospital on the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt as a precautionary move for dealing with any emergency related to the virus.
The move came as the Egyptians reopened the border crossing to allow Palestinians stranded on the Egyptian side of the terminal to return to the Gaza Strip.