Third covid wave spreading fast in Gaza, health official says

3 years ago

Third covid wave spreading fast in Gaza, health official says [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

The Gaza Strip is experiencing its third wave of coronavirus and it is spreading more rapidly than before, the Deputy Director-General of Primary Health Care at the Ministry of Health, Majdy Dahir, said during a conference today.

Dahir said he expects an unprecedented increase in the number of COVID-19 infections in the coming weeks, adding that samples have been sent to laboratories for examination in coordination with the World Health Organisation in order to discover the strains and spread of the infections.

The vaccination campaign had begun in February, he added, to date 134,988 have been inoculated.

The Ministry of Health has now cancelled all scheduled routine operations, adding that all patients who seek non-emergency treatment in the future will need to provide proof of vaccination.

All civil servants and those in customer-facing roles will be required to take the vaccines before continuing work, according to new rules being set out by the ministry.

READ: Delta variant blamed for most COVID-19 cases in Palestine