RAMALLAH, Thursday, April 16, 2020 (WAFA) – One new coronavirus cases was confirmed in the West Bank this morning which brings total in Palestine to 294, according to Minister of Health Mai Alkaila.

She told the daily briefing on the coronavirus outbreak that since midnight, three cases were confirmed in West Bank in addition to a woman from the Bethlehem-area town of Beit Sahour, in the south of the West Bank, who had previously recovered but new tests for her came out positive once again.

The three new cases were for two medics from Dheisheh refugee camp and from the town of Obeidieh, also in Bethlehem area, who were infected during their work at Augusta Victoria hospital in occupied East Jerusalem, and the third a man from Kharbatha al-Misbah, near Ramallah, who is a worker in Israel.

Alkaila said there are also 81 positive corona cases in occupied East Jerusalem after three new cases were reported in Jabal al-Mukabber neighborhood last night but that this figure is not official.

Currently there are 233 active cases in the West Bank and Gaza (229 in the West Bank and four in Gaza) after recovery of 61 patients (52 in the West Bank and nine in Gaza), and two deaths in the West Bank. All active cases are stable after one patient who was in ICU at a Ramallah-area corona center was returned to his room after showing signs of improvement, said Alkaila.

The cases are 66% males and 34% females; 40% in Jerusalem area villages under Palestinian rule, 20% in the Ramallah district, 18% in the Bethlehem district and 4.5% in the Gaza Strip, and other cities at lower numbers.

Age wise, 7% are children under nine years of age and 8% over 60 years while the rest fall in between.

Among the cases, 75% were for workers in Israel and people who interacted with them, 10% were for travelers and people who interacted with them, six medics, and one a former prisoner released from Israeli jails.

M.K.