Salamah Maruf, head of the Government Media Bureau in Gaza, said on Sunday that a full lockdown in the Gaza Strip is being considered as part of measures to deal with the spread of the coronavirus.
He added that the decision on a full lockdown would be influenced by the ability of medical professionals to treat the number of patients, which has been growing significantly recently.
According to the Palestinian Authority “ministry of health”, 684 cases of coronavirus and three deaths were diagnosed in the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours.
A total of 16 people died in the last day in PA-assigned areas (13 in Judea and Samaria and three in the Gaza Strip) and the total number of deaths currently stands at 714. Of those who have died in the last 24 hours in Judea and Samaria, three are in their 50s and the rest in their 70s and 80s.
The first cases of COVID-19 in Gaza were reported in late March. Before that, local authorities declared a new set of precautionary measures amid concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus in the coastal enclave.
Gaza recorded its first death from COVID-19 in late May. The death was a 77-year-old woman from the district of Khan Yunis who had returned from Egypt the previous week.