President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday eveningextended the state of emergency for a month to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Abbas issued a presidential decree extending the state of emergency for 30 days as of August 4 throughout the occupied Palestinian territories to battle the spread of the pandemic.
The move came the government extended the easing of the coronavirus lockdown until the end of August.
Speaking in a press briefing in Ramallah, Government Spokesman Ibrahim Milhem announced the government’s decision to form a daily follow-up committee comprising of all ministries and security agencies to be in charge of following-up on field efforts to combat the pandemic outbreak and conduct field inspection and oversight operations through special committees.
As part of the extended lockdown ease, cafes, restaurants, sports clubs and gyms are allowed to reopen at 50 percent operational capacity in line with the Ministry of Health’s relevant protocols.
The government’s decision allows the tightening of monitoring of public places, ensuring the compliance of enterprise owners and public transportation with all precautionary measures and imposing penalties on violators.
Milhem pointed out that the government decided to maintain the ban on large events, including weddings and condolence gathering, as well as the closure of events halls.
As for the weekends, Milhem noted that the government decided to reinstate the weekend general lockdown from Thursday (9:00 PM) to Sunday morning, while allowing businesses to operate during the rest of the week days from 7:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
He added that closure will be maintained on all villages, camps and city neighborhoods stricken by the pandemic and called on all workers inside Israel to comply with the precautionary health measures and to refrain from commuting between their workplaces and places of residence.
According to the latest coronavirus data, the confirmed cases in the occupied territories (West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza) reached 16,628.
Out of the 16,628 cases, 12,692 are recorded in the West Bank, 78 in the Gaza Strip and 3,858 in East Jerusalem.
Recoveries have totaled 7,929, including 1,510 in Jerusalem, and the death toll reached 87, leaving a total of 8,612 active cases.
