COVID-19 Emergency in Palestine, the situation in hospitals in the various regions of the country
Palestine, is always a special case, because it suffers from Israeli occupation and political conflicts, making challenges more difficult and complex during COVID-19 pandemic.
Covid-19, Palestine experiences convulsive days of great concern
The Minister of Health in Palestine, Dr Mai Al-Kaila, has stated on 17 December that the COVID-19 situation in occupied Palestinian territories is becoming increasingly dangerous, and it is going towards a health crisis in many cities.
It has been recorded a very high percentage of positive PCR results, which is 41% of the tested specimens.
The number of newly diagnosed cases in the last 24 hours is 1134 in West Bank and 1015 in Gaza Strip.
The number of patients in the ICU setting is 132 and patients on mechanical ventilation reached 36.
“We are ready to manage only 200 critical cases in Gaza Strip, and if number exceeded that, oxygen sources are not enough”, Youssef Aqqad, Director of European Hospital, main COVID-19 Hospital in Gaza Strip.
Covid-19 pandemic, the big picture in Palestine
Since the start of the pandemic, the number of confirmed cases in Palestine reached 131037, recovery 104814, 1186 death, and 25068 active cases. The total number of home quarantine cases 323,411.
The most active cities with highest records: Jerusalem, Hebrew, Jenin, Bethlehem, and Gaza Strip.
The Ministry of Health declared that they ordered 150000 vaccine copies, and the priority of vaccination would be for policemen and medical workers.
The authorities have employed partial lockdown, because the economic situation in Palestine is extremely harsh, knowing that a high percentage of the population are day labourers, so a general lockdown would be catastrophic.
It is important to know that unemployment reached more than 70% per cent, and more than 50% of the population suffer from poverty.
The national health awareness in Palestine is not wholly protective, for example, especially Gaza Strip has a highly condensed population, with a total of 2 million population, on an area of only 365 km2, so that at many places, it is really crowded everywhere.
Article written for Emergency Live by Ameer Helles (Gaza)
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