Coronavirus Disease 2019 (OPT) WHO Situation Report 84

Coronavirus disease 2019?(COVID-19) Situation Report 84

Monthly issue:?22?October to 18 November 2021

Highlights

New COVID-19 infections (4th wave in the West bank and 3rd wave in Gaza) continue to slow down across the oPt. The Gaza Strip leads by ratio of 64.6% of all active cases.
Positivity in the oPt continues to decline reaching 8.28% over the reporting period. Rt remains under 1.

WHO preparedness, readiness and response

WHO continues to work closely with partners to support the Ministry of Health’s (MoH) efforts to respond to the COVID-19?outbreak.

Coordination,?planning?and monitoring?

The state of emergency over COVID-19 decreed by President Mahmoud Abbas?continues in place.
Implementation of third ‘booster’ dose to medical staff and priority groups such as elderly and sick?continues.

Surveillance

Amidst?the?fourth?COVID-19?wave in the West?Bank and the third wave in the Gaza Strip,?the?overall?number of active cases is declining?to?2,758?COVID-19?cases?detected?across the?oPt.?Infections in the Gaza?Strip?still?account?for?most of?all?cases,?around?65%.
In the West?Bank,?numbers of?cases?are?slowing down,?and are now at?975. Positivity?stands at 4.30%?over the reporting period?(22 October to 18 November 2021).
In the Gaza Strip, positivity continues to decrease, while?remaining?rather high?at 13%.
The?overall Case Fatality Rate (CFR)?across oPt?remains?at?1%.?The CFR is the proportion of?deaths?among?identified?confirmed?cases.

Laboratory testing and diagnostics

The number of tests conducted in the oPt?over?the?reporting period is 93,901?tests,?with?an overall positivity of?8.28%.?In the Gaza Strip,?an average of 956 tests took place per day while the?average?in the West Bank was?2,368 tests per day.
In order to?maintain COVID-19 testing capacity in the Gaza Strip, during the reporting period, WHO delivered COVID-19?laboratory testing kits and supplies, including real time-PCR tests, antigen rapid diagnostic tests, in?addition?to supplementary kits?and supplies, that are enough to test?more than?73,000?COVID-19 suspected cases.

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), Case Management, Operations Support and Logistics?

In the Gaza Strip, the number of patients requiring hospitalization?continues to?decrease,?with?an?overall bed occupancy?of?28%, with?70?beds out of a total of?247?currently occupied.
Bed occupancy at intensive care units (ICU) is also?improving, with?9?patients (20%) occupying a total capacity of?45?beds, including?two?patients?on mechanical ventilation.
In?the West Bank, hospitals continue to respond to?COVID-19?situation: ICU bed occupancy?is?51%?with?48?ICU beds occupied out of?95,?and?8?patients on ventilators.
As part of?its?continued?efforts in expanding the capacity of?the Gaza?health system?in?case management,?WHO concluded?two series of training, targeting a total of 112 nurses and 46 doctors, on?intensive care management of COVID-19 patients.?The trainings used?combined?methods, including printed material,?face-to-face presentations, and practical workstations.

Maintaining?essential services

Scaling up Early Essential new-born?care to NGO run maternity hospitals???

In its effort to introduce early essential new-born care (EENC) in several maternity hospitals in Gaza, the WHO organized a workshop on October 28, to present (EENC) as a package of evidence-based life-saving interventions during delivery and the early new-born period. Such interventions can effectively reduce the risk of new-born morbidity and mortality. Twenty-six medical directors, heads of the obstetric departments in hospitals and the?MoH?EENC team?benefited?from the workshop.

The workshop was organized under the umbrella of the AFD funded project?“Strengthening Maternal, Neonatal and Young Children Health (MNCH) in Gaza” implemented jointly with?UNICEF?and UNFPA.

COVID-19 Vaccination Update

Vaccination?Numbers / News (as of 18?November)

1,606,553?people have been vaccinated?in total across the oPt:?1,113,011?in the West Bank, and?493,542?in Gaza.?These figures represent around?53.32%?of the?target?Palestinian?population?(16?years and above).
Of these numbers,?a?total?of?1,396,877?are?fully vaccinated:?1,018,390?in West Bank, and?378,487?in Gaza.
Administering?of third?“booster dose” of the vaccine?for priority groups is ongoing across the?oPt?(119,874 in total).??in West Bank 103,353?doses were administered?and?16,521?in Gaza.