Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) WHO Update 32

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report 32

occupied Palestinian territory, issued 11 June 2020
Information for period: 5 March – 11 June 2020

Highlights

• A total of 665 COVID-19 cases in oPt: 593 in West Bank and 72 in Gaza Strip
• WHO procured and delivered four shipments of essential medical equipment and supplies in the reporting period
• WHO has issued a new interim guidance on the use of medical and fabric masks in the context of COVID-19

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 situation in the occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt).

On June 2, local health authorities in the Gaza Strip welcomed two pallets of lab supplies, including 8,000 swabs, from WHO to expand COVID-19 testing capacity 

Key performance indicators (Feb 25 – May 31) ​

Coordination, planning and monitoring

• WHO participated in a visit of a technical delegation from the People’s Republic of China to the Ministry of Health to share knowledge and experience with the COVID-19 response.

Surveillance

• The total number of cases in oPt is 665, including 593 cases in the West Bank and 72 in the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, most cases are from East Jerusalem (180), Jerusalem Governorate (140), followed by Hebron (88) Ramallah (77) and Bethlehem (59). A total of 11 health workers are among those confirmed cases
• To-date, the Ministry of Health (MoH) reported a total of 558 cases have recovered: 517 in West Bank (including 118 in East Jerusalem) and 41 in Gaza and five people have died in the oPt: case fatality rate (CFR) is 0.81%
• About two-thirds (63%) of all confirmed cases are male (309 cases) and about 83% of all cases (403 cases) are below the age of 50 years in the oPt, excluding East Jerusalem.

WHO helped coordinate the entry of two PCR machines, donated by the Government of Turkey, through Erez crossing into the Gaza Strip, on June 4. In the same week, WHO delivered laboratory testing supplies to support COVID-19 testing of more than 600 people.

Laboratory diagnostics 

• A total of 64,277 laboratory samples have been tested for COVID-19 according to the MoH, with 11,584 samples tested in the Gaza Strip
• In the reporting period (from May 29 – June 11), WHO has procured and delivered the following items to health authorities in the Gaza Strip (see images above and below):
  • laboratory testing supplies to support the testing of more than 600 people for COVID-19, financed through the oPt Humanitarian Pooled Fund
  • two pallets of lab supplies including 8,000 swabs on June 2 to enable the screening of more people for COVID-19, supported by the oPt Humanitarian Pooled Fund
  • essential haemodialysis pharmaceuticals to maintain life-saving support for approximately 900 patients, supported by the Government of the Czech Republic
• WHO helped coordinate the entry of two PCR machines, donated by the Government of Turkey to the Palestinian Authority, through Erez crossing into the Gaza Strip.  The machines will double the testing capacity of local health authorities in Gaza, enabling COVID-19 testing of 2,000 samples per day.

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), Isolation and Case Management, operations support and logistics 

• According to the MoH, 2,287 Palestinians are in quarantine (home or facility-based) for monitoring of their symptoms and ensuring early detection of cases
• In Gaza, 344 people are in one of the seven operational quarantine facilities which include designated health facilities, schools or hotels
• WHO is supporting the MoH in assessing the maternity and newborn units in six public and four NGO hospitals, by evaluating the infection prevention and control procedures in the context of COVID-19, and testing the units’ preparedness for responding to outbreaks

• The training, which was conducted on 1 and 6 June in Khan Younis and Gaza city, aimed to enhance PRCS staff capacity in identifying COVID-19 cases based on MoH and WHO criteria, to ensure adherence to infection prevention and control measures while handling COVID-19 suspected cases, and to improve coordination and communication among dispatch, paramedics and receiving facilities. The training also assessed staff knowledge of the correct referral pathway and evaluated the documentation and registration of suspect cases
• Additionally, a committee of WHO, MDM-F and MoH conducted a meeting to review the operational policies of Respiratory Triage Centers on June 8.

East Jerusalem​

• As of June 11, 2020 (10:00 am), the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health reported 180 COVID-19 cases in East Jerusalem. Two deaths have been reported (CFR- 1.1%) and 155 recovered in the same period
• Like other hospitals, the East Jerusalem Hospital Network (EJHN) facilities operate under emergency measures. Hospitals had to scale down their health services and prioritize essential interventions. Referrals have been restricted to urgent cases and those requiring time-dependent treatments or interventions. Reduction in health service utilization and referrals resulted in a scaled-down operational capacity and hence reduced revenues
• EJHN hospitals reported a significant decline in outpatient consultations (72%), elective surgeries (66%), essential surgeries (74%), chemotherapy sessions for cancer patients (43%) in April 2020 as compared to April 2019.  Similarly, referrals to the East Jerusalem hospitals went down substantially, by 72% from the West Bank and 59% from Gaza Strip, for the same period.

Ensuring access to essential health Services in Gaza Strip

• As the health system mobilizes its scarce resources to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, shortages of essential drugs and disposables have reached critical low levels and are affecting provision of critical health services for patients with chronic conditions in Gaza Strip.
• WHO handed over life-saving haemodialysis drug supplies to the local health authorities in the Gaza Strip on June 8. These essential drug supplies will help maintain life-saving support for up to 900 patients, including at least 821 regular haemodialysis patients. This delivery was made possible with the generous support of the Government of Czech Republic.

More local information