RAMALLAH, Monday, March 15, 2021 (WAFA) - The current epidemiological situation in Palestine is very serious and unprecedented since the start of the pandemic, today said Palestinian Health Minister Mai Alkaila.
She told a virtual meeting of Arab health ministers to discuss efforts to fight the corona pandemic in the Arab world that 60 percent of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip need to be vaccinated in order to start going back to normal life.
"The alarm has sounded in Palestine," said Alkaila. "The current epidemiological situation is very dangerous due to the widespread of the disease in an unprecedented manner since the beginning of the pandemic, which has led to an increase in the number of infections in all governorates and the emergence of a large number of new infections from the variants, especially the British mutation, and the high number of critical cases that require intensive care and artificial respiration."
The Health Minister said the occupancy rate in Palestinian hospitals and Covid-19 treatment centers in Palestine has exceeded 100%. "We have returned to full lockdown in all governorates in an attempt to control the pandemic and reduce the cases. There are seven main governorates living under complete lockdown for the second consecutive week, and universities and schools are closed in all governorates."
She explained that her ministry is working hard to make available more hospital beds and medical equipment in order to be able to confront the accelerating spread of the epidemic and to establish and equip more emergency treatment centers.
Alkaila added: "We in Palestine - according to the plans and the recommendations of the World Health Organization - need to vaccinate 60% of our citizens so that we can start to reduce government measures to confront the pandemic and start to return to normal economic life as before."
The Minister of Health said that the total number of confirmed cases in Palestine so far is more than 235,000 cases, while the deaths have reached nearly 2,500 deaths, or 1.1%.
Regarding the provision of the vaccine, Alkaila said that they have made tremendous efforts from the first moment with the World Health Organization and the Global Alliance COVAX in order to provide vaccines to the Palestinian people.
"Indeed, we have been promised through the COVAX platform to provide about 37,000 doses during the month of February in addition to more than 250,000 doses during the current month of March. However, we were surprised that these promises were not met and we did not receive any quantity so far through COVAX," said the minister.
Alkaila urged the Arab health ministers to support Palestine and help it get its share of the vaccine as soon as possible, thanking Russia and China for providing some vaccines to the Palestinians that allowed her ministry to vaccinate at least the health workers.
M.K.
