The number of Palestinians infected with coronavirus increased to 260, with one of those cases from the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry announced on Tuesday.
Kamal al-Shakhrah, a senior official with the P.A. Health Ministry, said that 84 of those infected are Palestinian workers in Israel, according to a report in The Jerusalem Post.
The P.A. Health Ministry is testing workers returning from Israel and ordering them to self-quarantine in their homes.
According to the report, the P.A. National Economy Ministry banned Palestinians from bringing secondhand furniture or other used goods into the Palestinian territories in order to stop the spread of the virus.
National Economy Minister Khaled al-Osaily told The Jerusalem Post that the ban is only on used goods, not new ones. “Trade between us and Israel did not stop for one day. We continue to export to the Israeli market and import from the Israeli market,” he said.
P.A. Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has claimed that the Israel Defense Forces is intentionally spreading coronavirus to Palestinians, according to Israeli media reports.
Israel has helped the Palestinians by transferring test kits and masks from the World Health Organization to the P.A.
