JERUSALEM, Thursday, October 01, 2020 (WAFA) - The total number of COVID-19 cases in September in the occupied Palestinian territories rose by 20,603 or 40%, an average of 686 cases per day, according to a situation report by the World Health Organization (WHO) issued today.

In the Gaza Strip, cases have risen by 84% or 2,592, an average of 86 cases per day for the same period, it said. With most cases linked to community transmission.

It said 376 people have died in the occupied Palestinian territory from the disease, with an overall case fatality rate of 0.67%.

Meanwhile, WHO delivered COVID-19 lab testing kits, supplies and reagents to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip over the past week to address the shortage of testing kits.

The UK Government has reprogrammed WHO funding to support the critical scale up of laboratory testing in the Gaza Strip, through the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Response plan.

With the support of the Government of Kuwait, this week WHO delivered 397 COVID-19 lab testing kits to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This was one of a number of deliveries made in the past week.

WHO also procured and delivered 8,000 COVID-19 tests from the German government to the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health in Ramallah to cover immediate gaps in testing capacities for COVID-19 and to ensure continuity of efforts to contain the pandemic in the occupied territories.

It also delivered from the EU Humanitarian Aid eight pallets of Personal Protective Equipment items including 10,000 N95 masks, 10,000 face shields and 10,000 shoe covers to ensure protection of frontline health workers in COVID-19 health facilities.

The WHO risk assessment for Palestine remains very high as the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 continues to increase.

M.K.