The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Wednesday announced a five-day lockdown across areas of Judea and Samaria under its control after a rise in coronavirus infections.
"Starting from Friday morning, all governorates of the West Bank... will be closed for a period of five days," PA cabinet government spokesman Ibrahim Milhem said, according to AFP.
He added that pharmacies, bakeries and supermarkets were exempt.
The latest data from the PA “ministry of health” said that as of Wednesday night, a total of 2,686 people had tested positive for COVID-19, compared with just 1,256 a week ago.
Last week, 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".
Most infections were traceable to Palestinian Arabs working in Israel or Arab Israeli visitors to Judea and Samaria, Kaila said.
There have been seven deaths from the virus in the PA.
The Palestinian Authority imposed a full lockdown after the first coronavirus cases were identified on 5 March, lifting it at the end of May.
A public health state of emergency was reimposed for 30 days from early June.
Bethlehem was closed from Monday morning after a major spike in COVID-19 infections. The cities of Hebron and Shechem (Nablus) were also already under lockdown.