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Palestine on Thursday declared tightening measures amidst a rise of coronavirus cases in the occupied territory, mulling the possibility to extend the state of emergency.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohamed Ishtaye recommended to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to extend the state of emergency to enable the health and security services of the State of Palestine to control the spread of COVID-19.
"We still maintain a high degree of control over the spread of this pandemic, but we must raise the level of our procedures to contain the return of workers from Israel and the colonies to their homes as thousands of cases are being recorded in Israel," he said in a statement.
Ishtaye met with the heads of the security services, the minister of health and the minister of labor, discussing measures on how to deal with the influx of thousands of workers coming from their workplaces in Israel during the coming days.
"We asked the Israeli side to examine the workers before their return or to organize for their gradual return in groups so that we can examine them and control this danger," he said, adding that Palestine will tighten its measures to contain the possibility of increasing cases of infection as the Palestinian workers return from Israel and Israeli settlements.
As part of the new measures, Ishtaye announced that movement hours will be reduced in all the West Bank cities between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., and all the stores should close after 5 p.m except for pharmacies.
The cities of Bethlehem and Hebron have been under more strict measures for weeks.
According to official data, there are around 45,000 workers still inside Israel or in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
On Thursday, the Palestinian government declared that the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus has jumped to 161.
(CGTN)
