COVID-19 deeply affecting Occupied Palestine and the Gaza Strip

Gaza City, May 22 (RHC)-- An area of major concern for the spread of the coronavirus is the Gaza Strip, where the Health Ministry has reported 35 new cases in the last three days, bringing the total number to 55.

All the new cases have been detected among returnees from abroad who are in mandatory quarantine in facilities at the border.

Yousef Abu el-Rish, a senior Health Ministry official, said it is investigating whether the virus has spread beyond the quarantine facilities, where some 2,000 people are housed.

Gaza's healthcare system has been severely degraded by a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after ruling group Hamas seized power there in 2007.  The territory only has around 60 ventilators for a population of two million.