Coronavirus test
Coronavirus testKobi Richter/TPS

Mohammad Shtayyeh, head of the Palestinian Authority (PA) cabinet, on Sunday conducted an assessment of the situation with the heads of the PA security forces on the spread of the coronavirus in the PA and the measures taken in the various districts to curb the rate of infection.

Shtayyeh claimed, as other PA officials have done in recent days, that 79 percent of the PA’s coronavirus patients are Palestinian Arabs who worked in Israel and people who came in contact with those workers.

This figure, he added, is the biggest challenge for the PA and requires it to continue with its stringent steps. In this context, said Shtayyeh, the PA has asked for a meeting with the Israeli side.

PA officials have accused Israel of spreading the coronavirus in PA-assigned territories. Last week, PA cabinet spokesperson Ibrahim Milhem claimed that "Israelis are not taking the prevention measures seriously because they love money and want to keep the production wheel working.”

Milhem added that "the settlements, gas stations and hotels in Israel are greenhouses of the epidemic."

Shtayyeh last week urged Palestinian Arabs to avoid visiting “Israelis settlements” in order to stop the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile on Sunday, it was reported that the number of cases of coronavirus in the PA increased by two in the last day. With two new cases in Hebron, the number of cases in the PA patients rose to 437, with 72 having recovered from the disease and three deaths.

In the Palestinian diaspora, there is a total of 925 cases, including 39 deaths and 226 who have recovered.