The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Saturday said that 382 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in its territories, raising its total number of registered cases to 12,809, the Xinhua news agency reports.

The PA “ministry of health” said four citizens died of the virus, bringing the total deaths since March 5 to 77.

The ministry noted that recovered cases reached 3,741, leaving 8,991 active cases under medical observation.

Overall, 15 patients are currently in intensive care units, including three who are connected to respirators.

Kamal al-Shakhra, a spokesperson for the PA “health ministry”, told reporters that the rate of contracting the disease is expected to slow down in the coming days, after a spike prior to the latest movement restrictions and weekend lockdown.

Earlier this month, the PA announced earlier it was prolonging a lockdown in Judea and Samaria for five days following a spike in coronavirus infections.

After the easing of a previous coronavirus lockdown in late May, PA “health minister” Mai al-Kaila said the PA had entered a second wave of infections "more dangerous than the first".

PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas recently renewed the state of emergency for another 30 days in PA territories.