Hebron
HebroniStock

Two new cases of coronavirus were confirmed on Sunday in Palestinian Authority-assigned areas of Judea and Samaria, bringing the total to 108, said PA government spokesman Ibrahim Milhem, according to the Xinhua news agency.

He said the two cases are of the 60-year-old husband of a woman from Hebron who was found to have tested positive for the virus, and her 24-year-old son.

According to Kan 11 News, as a result of the two cases in Hebron the PA has decided to impose a closure on the city as of Monday. During the closure, all access routes to the city will be blocked and no one will be permitted to enter or exit.

In his remarks on Sunday, Milhem added that two more people have recovered from COVID-19 in Bethlehem, where the coronavirus was first detected in the PA. The two who have recovered area a German woman married to a Palestinian Arab from Bethlehem, and her daughter. This brings the total number of people who have recovered so far to 20.

Gaza still has only nine cases out of the 108, while the other 99 are mainly in villages near Jerusalem, according to Xinhua.

Kan 11 News also reported that the PA received a shipment from China meant to help it fight the coronavirus. The shipment includes 10,000 test kits and swabs.

The report comes amid concerns over a potential rapid spread of the virus in the PA. Last week, PA cabinet leader Mohammad Shtayyeh met with PA security chiefs and health ministers to deliberate on additional measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Shtayyeh instructed his security chiefs to tighten inspections at border crossings and crossings between PA districts and cities.

In addition, PA security forces were instructed to tighten quarantine directives in the village of Biddu and nearby villages following the infection of residents and death of an elderly woman.