Gaza caught between full lockdown or collapse of health sector amid COVID-19 surge
A health catastrophe looms on the horizon of the Gaza Strip amid the already fragile health-care sector, while the government hesitates to impose a full lockdown due to the deteriorating economic situation.
![1229639648 A Palestinian man and his wife ride a donkey cart past street art showing doctors mask-clad due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November 16, 2020. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2020/12/GettyImages-1229639648.jpg/GettyImages-1229639648.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=aiipJZt0)
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The deteriorating health-care system in the Gaza Strip warns of a health disaster due to the increasing number of coronavirus cases, as 32% of daily tests turn out positive. Since March, 21,461 cases have been registered in Gaza, with 9,627 active cases as of Dec. 2, and about 111 deaths.
Rami al-Abadla, director of the Infection Control Department at the General Hospital Administration of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, told Al-Monitor, “The COVID-19 infection rate in the Gaza Strip foreshadows a larger spread of the virus. In addition, many cases are still unregistered because some infected people do not inform the ministry of the people they came in contact with.”