Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, in a bid to control spread of the deadly coronavirus pandemic, tonight ordered restriction on movement between the Palestinian governorates and called on thousands of Palestinians who work in the illegal Israeli settlements not to go to their places of work.
Speaking on the latest efforts to combat coronavirus, Shtayyeh said in a televised speech that as movement between the governorates will be restricted to the minimum, each ministry will be required to reduce the number of its employees who work at the head office in Ramallah.
He said that buses travelling between the governorates will come to a halt to avoid contact between people and to curtail movement, urging people living in the villages and towns not to come to the cities unless it was highly necessary.
Shtayyeh called on settlement workers not to go to their places of work since many settlers could be infected with the disease and that the workers who go to work in Israel proper should arrange their long stay at their workplaces because starting Sunday morning no worker will be allowed entry into or exit from Israel for one month.
He said that the banks will operate under emergency conditions, while cutting down on their work hours in all governorates.
The prime minister also said that as of this evening, it will be forbidden to move within the cities of Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour, calling on people in the three cities to stay in their homes in order to the infected cases and not spread the disease. Also, entry and exit to and from the Bethlehem governorate, the epicenter of the disease where 40 of the 44 cases confirmed so far in Palestine are located, will be prohibited.
He warned anyone who is quarantined in their homes not to leave their homes because that would endanger people’s lives, and anyone who violates this puts himself at the risk of being prosecuted by the law.
