clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Palestine hails Qatar’s assistance in face of coronavirus

March 9, 2020 at 4:26 pm

Palestinian workers spray disinfectant as a precaution to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, in Gaza, on 9 March 2020 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today thanked Qatari Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani for providing a “$10 million in urgent assistance in the face of the coronavirus”.

The head of Qatar’s General Authority of Civil Affairs, Hussein Al-Sheikh, recently said that his country would provide the Palestinian Authority (PA) with “supplies for prevention from the coronavirus outbreak”.

“The State of Qatar has decided to expedite the urgent provision of medical equipment and devices to Palestine to confront the coronavirus,” Al-Sheikh wrote on Twitter.

Qatar yesterday barred travellers from 14 countries as a precaution against the rapidly spreading virus. The countries included China, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria and Thailand.

READ: Israel may shut off the West Bank to stop coronavirus spread

The move came a day after the Qatari health ministry confirmed three more cases of the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 15.

The new coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China, in December and has now spread to more than 80 countries. The global death toll is nearing 3,300, with more than 97,000 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Some 52,000 patients who contracted the virus recovered.

The WHO, which has declared the outbreak an international health emergency, recently updated the global risk level to “very high”.