A medical worker collects a swab sample from a man for COVID-19 test in Gaza City, on Nov. 3, 2020. Palestinian officials on Wednesday said the spread of COVID-19 poses a critical threat to the besieged Gaza Strip which suffers from a weak health system. Since March, the densely populated and impoverished coastal enclave, ruled by the Islamic Hamas movement, has recorded 7,231 COVID-19 cases. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
GAZA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian officials on Wednesday said the spread of COVID-19 poses a critical threat to the besieged Gaza Strip which suffers from a weak health system.
Since March, the densely populated and impoverished coastal enclave, ruled by the Islamic Hamas movement, has recorded 7,231 COVID-19 cases.
Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesperson of the Hamas-run ministry of health, told Xinhua that the increase in COVID-19 infections is placing tremendous pressure on the health system and clinical capacity in governmental hospitals.
Yousef al-Aqqad, Director of the Gaza-European Hospital for treating coronavirus patients, told reporters in Gaza that the hospital is almost full of COVID-19 patients, adding that the number increases every day.
"The hospital's maximum capacity is to treat 500 patients, and we have only 100 beds designated for critical cases," al-Aqqad said.
He added that due to the limited capacity of the hospital, the authorities had to transfer cases that do not show symptoms to schools and other quarantine centers to make room for patients who show symptoms.
On Aug. 24, Hamas imposed tight measures on the Gaza Strip following a surge in the the disease's spread. It later relaxed these measures but kept the nighttime lockdown.
Mai al-Kaila, the Palestinian Authority Minister of Health, said in a press statement that the ministry recorded on Wednesday three deaths and 734 new COVID-19 cases in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
"The ministry recorded the three deaths in the West Bank only, while there are 36 patients in critical conditions," she added.
"Since the outbreak of the corona disease in Palestine in March, the ministry recorded 67,918 cases, including 576 deaths," al-Kaila said, adding that 59,682 patients had recovered. Enditem
