Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) WHO Situation Report 59

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report 59

Issued 14 January 2021

Highlights

• The oPt has witnessed a significant decrease in the numbers of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in the reporting period
• UN Experts call on Israel to ensure equal access to COVID-19 vaccines to Palestinians

WHO preparedness, readiness and response

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

Key Performance Indicators for COVID-19 Response in oPt 

Coordination, planning and monitoring​

• Public health restrictions, including movement restrictions in and between governorates and on weekends, continue in the West Bank until 17 January  to contain the COVID-19 spread
• In the Gaza Strip, local authorities slightly eased the imposed movement restrictions. As of 8 January 2021, night curfew reduced to 20:00 to 07:00, while the weekend lockdown on Fridays and Saturdays will continue until further notice. Mosques re-opened on weekdays, as of 10 January and attendance at elementary schools resumed for grades 1 – 6, on 13 January.

Surveillance

• The WHO risk assessment remains very high
• This week, the oPt witnessed a significant decrease in newly confirmed COVID-19 cases, with a 28% drop to 5,957 cases and an 11% drop in deaths to 137 for the reporting period
• The overall Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is at 1.1 %. The CFR is the proportion of deaths among identified confirmed cases
• Gaza now accounts for 50.7 % of all active cases in oPt, followed by the West Bank governorates of Nablus (9.4%), East Jerusalem (8.7%), Ramallah (7.5%), Tulkarm (4,3%), Hebron (3.8%), Jenin (3.5%) and Bethlehem (2.9%) for the reporting period.

Laboratory testing and diagnostics  ​

• The number of tests conducted in the oPt has decreased by 13% during the reporting period (8 – 14 January), with 28,011 tests conducted compared to the previous week
• In the Gaza Strip, an average of 1,930 tests per day have been conducted in the past week (8 – 14 January) with a positivity rate of 20.4%, indicating every fifth person is testing positive and testing should be scaled up. On 12 January, health authorities reported enough COVID-19 tests for 13 days until 24 January
• On 11 January, WHO delivered 30,000 sample collection swabs and 100,000 COVID-19 rapid antigen tests to the local health authorities in the Gaza Strip (pictured).

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

• As of 14 January, the overall occupancy rate of dedicated COVID-19 hospital beds in the Gaza Strip is 34%, with 183 of 540 beds occupied.  Currently, 23 of the 90 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds (26%) are occupied, including two patients on invasive mechanical ventilation.

COVID-19 Vaccine  

• The Palestinian Authority MoH, with support from partners, is proceeding with preparations to be ready to receive the first vaccinations through the global Gavi COVAX AMC Facility, including the development of the COVID-19 National Deployment and Vaccination Plan to outline costed strategies for the deployment, implementation and monitoring of the COVID-19 vaccines in the oPt
• In parallel, the PA is in direct negotiations with pharmaceutical companies and other countries to secure additional vaccine quantities. The MoH has authorized the use of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine under its own emergency use authorization procedure. The PA will reportedly receive the first shipment within one month and delivery is expected to be complete by end April 2021.

Risk Communications and Community Engagement 

• The COVID-19 Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Campaign, led by WHO, UNICEF and MoH and supported by partners continues to share health information and address misinformation through its national campaign
• A revised national RCCE strategy for COVID-19 is being finalised which includes a new focus on community engagement and two-way communication to support the rollout and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines in the community
• Featured below are social media cards and videos with messages to support vaccine uptake which have been distributed as part of the national COVID-19 campaign in the past month. All campaign materials, by topic, are available to download here
• To receive the RCCE materials on a fortnightly basis please contact Arwa Mhanna  at WHO.

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