RAMALLAH, Saturday, July 18, 2020 (WAFA) –  The government renewed today its ban on public and private traffic between the governorates for one more week, a week after it took the same decision in an effort to curb a rapidly growing coronavirus outbreak.

Speaking at a press conference in Ramallah, Ibrahim Milhem, the government spokesman, said in spite of the cross-governorate ban on traffic and movement, commercial and business activities within the same governorate will remain operating.

Based on the recommendations of the Epidemiology Committee and the Emergency Committee, Milhem said the government decided to continue to apply the same safety measures to contain the pandemic and as follows:

1. Traffic and movement between the governorates shall be banned for one week, while the commercial activities remain operating.
2. Affected neighborhoods in cities, villages, and refugee camps will be tightly sealed for the purpose of enabling preventive medicine crews to carry out their work.
3. Movement shall stop every day from 8:00 pm until 6:00 am in all the governorates and for one week, provided that this will be reviewed according to the development of the pandemic situation.
4. Movement between the governorates shall stop from 8:00 am on Thursday until the morning of Sunday, with only bakeries and pharmacies are allowed to work.
5. Small businesses, shops and factories are allowed to operate, provided that they abide by the health protocol.
6. Holding weddings, mourning houses, festivals, and any public gatherings is strictly forbidden in all the governorates.
7. Wedding halls, kindergartens, hairdressing and beauty salons, sports clubs and swimming pools, recreational activities, and training and education centers shall remain shut down. Training courses and workshops are also banned.
8. Stricter implementation of the Ministry of Health's protocols and public safety measures at all commercial and professional facilities, as well as for drivers and citizens, provided that penalties will be applied to violators.
9. Restaurants can only work for delivery services.
10. Security services and governors, in cooperation with emergency committees in the villages, camps, and cities, will be responsible for the prevention of wedding parties, mourning homes, and mass gatherings.
11. The ministers shall arrange the working schedule of their ministries in a manner that ensures the provision of services to citizens.
12. Palestinians working in Israel are asked not to commute to their workplaces in Israel and back to their homes on a daily basis.
13. Working in Israeli colonial settlements is strictly prohibited.
14. The Palestinian people of occupied Jerusalem are asked to abide by the preventive measures and the instructions of the national emergency committees in the city.
15. Palestinians living in Israel shall refrain from visiting the West Bank for their own safety and the safety of their relatives.

M.N