Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) WHO Situation Report 58

Highlights

• The oPt has witnessed a slight decrease in the numbers of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths in the reporting period
• Public health restrictions have been extended in the West Bank and continue in the Gaza Strip

WHO preparedness, readiness and response

WHO is continuing to work with partners to support Ministry of Health’s (MoH) efforts to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Coordination, planning and monitoring​

Public health restrictions continue in the West Bank (until 17 January) and the Gaza Strip until further notice. On 3 January, the Palestinian Authority announced the extension of the following public health measures to contain the COVID-19 spread in the West Bank:

• Movement is prohibited between all governorates and inside governorates, weekend movement is prohibited (Fridays and Saturdays) with a night curfew on movement and transportation (from 19:00 – 6:00) in all cities, towns, villages and camps
• Only pharmacies and bakeries are allowed to open. Restaurants, cafes, health clubs, barber and beauty salons, operate at a work pace of not more than 30 percent, with strict health procedures
• Weddings, gatherings funerals, festivals, gatherings or events continue to be banned
• Prayers in mosques and churches must follow special protocols
• Ministries and official institutions, as well as civil and private institutions, operate at emergency level, with no more than 30% of their human resource capacity
• School attendance will now be allowed for limited grades (blended online and in-class learning from grade 1 – 6 and 12) for two weeks, other grades (6-11) to resume after this period. Nurseries and kindergartens remain open, universities and other institutes to close
• Hospitals in the private and public sector must allocate wards to receive COVID-19 patients. Municipal and emergency services remain open
• Police and security agencies will monitor gatherings and any crowded places and penalties will be applied to those not following the rules.

Surveillance

• The WHO risk assessment remains very high
• This week, the oPt witnessed a slight decrease in newly confirmed COVID-19 cases, with a 20% drop to 6,957 cases for the reporting period
• The overall Case Fatality Rate (CFR) remains at 1 %. The CFR is the proportion of deaths among identified confirmed cases
• On 31 December, 15 deaths were reported in the Gaza Strip, the highest daily death toll since the start of the pandemic
• Gaza now accounts for 50% of all active cases in oPt, followed by the West Bank governorates of Nablus (12%), East Jerusalem and Ramallah (7%), Hebron and Tulkarm (4%), Jenin (3%) and Bethlehem (2%) as of 5 January.

Laboratory testing and diagnostics  ​

• The number of tests conducted in the oPt has decreased by 5% during the reporting period (1 – 6 January), with 27,652 tests conducted compared to the previous week
• In the Gaza Strip, an average of 2,221 tests per day have been conducted in the past week (24 December – 6 January) with a positivity rate of 29%, indicating every third person is testing positive and testing should be scaled up. On 5 January, health authorities reported enough COVID-19 tests for 15 days until 20 January
• WHO procured and delivered 30 extraction kits to conduct 60,000 tests on 5 January 2021 (pictured), and 100 RT-PCR kits to conduct 9,600 tests on 23 December, to support testing of contacts and COVID-19 suspected cases in the Gaza Strip
• On 3 January, the Palestinian Medical Relief Society announced that COVID-19 PCR testing is now available at their laboratories for a small fee, making them the first non-MoH laboratory in Gaza to provide this service. They currently have the capacity to conduct 100 tests per day, mainly for those who need negative PCR test before travel and those that prefer to do the test privately.

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), Isolation and Case Management, Operations Support and Logistics 

• As of 6 January, the overall occupancy rate of dedicated COVID-19 hospital beds in the Gaza Strip is 46%, with 247 of 540 beds occupied.  Currently, 23 of the 90 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds (26%) are occupied, including seven patients on invasive mechanical ventilation, as of 6 January.

COVID-19 Vaccine  

• Vaccines are a critical tool to collectively save lives and to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. There are almost 200 vaccine candidates in development, of which 56 are in various stages of clinical testing. On December 31 WHO approved the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine for emergency use listing, the first to receive emergency validation from WHO; the vaccine is now used in vaccination campaigns in several countries, following the approval from stringent regulatory authorities. The Moderna vaccine is also used in some countries, following emergency authorization by regulatory agencies. There are further vaccines developed by several producers (Astrazeneca, Gamaleya, Sinovac, Sinopharm) with demonstrated efficacy in clinical trials, all of whom are in contact with WHO regarding regulatory review and are expected to be reviewed for Emergency Use Listing in early 2021
• The Palestinian Authority MoH will receive support through the Gavi COVAX AMC Facility for an allocation of COVID-19 vaccines to cover 20% of the population in the oPt, to target the priority groups of frontline health workers, the elderly population and those with underlying health conditions. The MoH plans to procure vaccines for an additional 40% of its population through various mechanisms, providing coverage to all Palestinian adults, to ensure a total of 60% of the population will be covered, which includes those most at risk. WHO emergency use listing for vaccine(s) under the Gavi COVAX AMC Facility is expected to progress over the coming weeks, with allocation of approved vaccine batches expected to be deployed in early to mid 2021
• WHO and UNICEF are working with the Ministry of Health to develop and finalize the national vaccine deployment plan, and to support implementation and monitoring
• Safe and effective vaccines will save lives: but for the foreseeable future it remains essential to continue wearing masks, to physically distance and to avoid crowds
• The COVID-19 challenges can only be addressed collectively and in solidarity: no country will be safe until everyone is safe and all countries are protected.