Palestinian Authority reinstates lockdown to prevent coronavirus second peak

The Palestinian Authority has restored the evening and weekend lockdown on the occupied West Bank as coronavirus cases begin to creep up, causing fears of a second peak.

Spokesman for the Interior Ministry Ghassan Nimer said on Thursday evening that Ramallah’s decision to reinstate the weekend lockdown is designed to prevent all forms of meetings and visits.

The lockdown would allow the Health Ministry’s Preventive Medicine to record all suspected coronavirus cases, according to Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa.

Under the general lockdown, travel is forbidden between Thursday 8pm and Sunday 6am in and between all governorates.

Read also: Israeli forces destroy Palestinian coronavirus checkpoint in occupied West Bank

Only pharmacies and bakeries will be allowed to open. 

According to the latest coronavirus data, the confirmed cases in the occupied territories (West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza) has reached 11,875.

Out of the 11,875 cases, 9,669 are recorded in the West Bank, 75 in the Gaza Strip and 2,131 in East Jerusalem.

Recoveries have totalled 3,394, including 674 in East Jerusalem, and the death toll reached 70, leaving a total of 8,411 active cases.

Palestinians have expressed concern that further lockdowns may stifle the economy more than it is already currently being challenged.

In early June, the World Bank warned that the West Bank poverty rate (14 percent) could double due to the pandemic and that its budget should be cut by about $1.5 billion dollars this year.

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