The Gaza Strip and COVID-19: Preparing for the Worst

A Palestinian family on the street in Beit Lahia in north Gaza. Credit: Mohammed Omer/IPS.By External SourceGAZA CITY/JERUSALEM/BRUSSELS, Apr 2 2020 (IPS) The coronavirus is now present in Gaza, the populous Palestinian enclave blockaded by air, land and sea since 2007. An epidemic would be calamitous. Hamas should tighten public health measures; Israel should loosen restrictions so that medical supplies can enter and afflicted Palestinians can leave. What’s new? COVID-19 cases have appeared in the Gaza Strip, where close to two million Palestinians live in 365 sq km, many of them in crowded refugee camps where social distancing is hardly feasible.   Why does it matter? A major outbreak of the illness would swiftly overwhelm Gaza’s health care system, which has been devastated by years of war and Israeli blockade. The death toll could be horrific.   What should be done? The Hamas government should maintain its quarantine measures and step up other efforts to contain the virus’s spread. Israel should lift the blockade for medical supplies and allow Palestinians out of the strip should they require hospitalisation. COVID-19 has entered the Gaza Strip, one of the world’s most densely populated territories. If efforts by the Hamas government fail to contain it, the virus could rampage through the Palestinian population of nearly two million, the majority of whom live in tightly packed refugee camps. Gaza’s health infrastructure – crippled by an Israeli...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Headlines Health Middle East & North Africa TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news