Palestinians report 160 new Covid-19 cases amid slow vaccine drive

The Palestinian Authority (PA) recorded 160 new coronavirus cases, 38 recoveries, and two deaths across the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip.

Health Minister Mai Al-Kaileh announced on Sunday that 160 people tested positive for the virus in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, while two others died from coronavirus complications in Gaza. No deaths were reported in the West Bank.

Among the cases, 83 cases were recorded in the West Bank and 77 others in the Gaza Strip, she said in a statement carried by PA's news agency Wafa.

Al-Kaileh added that 22 of the patients are in hospital, including 12 in intensive care and two on ventilators.

She said that the recovery rate in the Palestinian territories has so far reached 98.4%, while active cases account for 0.5%. The death toll stood at 1.1% of total infections.

Al-Kaileh said that only 608,800 people out of nearly five million Palestinians have received their first dose of the vaccine in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, of whom 423,500 people received the second.

There are currently 2.7 million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and two million Palestinians in Gaza.

In June, the PA cancelled a vaccine trade-off with Israel upon discovering that they were going to receive almost expired Pfizer jabs.

Israel has faced months of intense criticism from rights groups and medical professionals for hindering Palestinian efforts to curb the spread of the deadly virus and not vaccinating Palestinians during its own vaccination campaign.