Yousef Abu Al-Rish, director general of the “Ministry of Health” in the Gaza Strip, confirmed on Sunday that there have been no confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Gaza.
The Hamas authorities running the Gaza Strip have set up a temporary hospital with 30 beds and 8 intensive care rooms at the Rafah crossing. The hospital is designed to treat coronavirus patients entering the Gaza Strip through Egypt.
On Friday, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) headed by Gen. Kamil Abu Rukun, transferred approximately 200 coronavirus test kits to the Gaza Strip through the Erez crossing.
Gen. Abu Rukun said, "Viruses and diseases have no boundaries - and therefore preventing the spread of the coronavirus in the Gaza Strip and eradicating its outbreak in the territories of Judea and Samaria are of prime Israeli interest. An outbreak of this kind could jeopardize the health of the people of Israel.”
Gaza authorities on Saturday declared a new set of precautionary measures amid concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus in the coastal enclave.
Among the measures announced was the shutting down of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt and the Erez crossing with Israel.
In addition, schools and universities in the Strip remain closed until the end of March and all citizens returning from outside Gaza will be placed in quarantine under strict supervision.
The Gaza Strip is so far free of the novel coronavirus, but 38 cases had been confirmed as of Saturday in Palestinian Authority-assigned areas of Judea and Samaria, which is run by PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction.
Most of the cases of coronavirus in the PA have been recorded in the city of Bethlehem.
Abbas last week announced a month-long state of emergency after the first seven cases of coronavirus were identified in the PA.