Officials worry recent fighting in Gaza could lead to Covid-19 spike

NEW YORK • Health officials and international aid groups are watching to see if nearly two weeks of fighting between Israel and Hamas militants leads to a wave of new coronavirus cases in Gaza.

The United Nations warned last Monday, at the start of the second week of fighting, of a potential surge of new cases as tens of thousands of Gazans took shelter in 50 UN-run schools.

A ceasefire was declared last Friday.

"The schools were overcrowded, and there was basically no social distancing in them," said Dr Majdi Dhair, director of preventive medicine for the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza.

"If someone was sick in any one school, that person could have infected everyone around them."

A majority of Gazans most likely hunkered down in their homes during the two weeks of fighting and had less contact than usual with others, which could ultimately temper the size of any new outbreak, Dr Dhair said.

It would take several days for the case data to show the extent of a possible spike.

The only laboratory in the Gaza Strip that processes coronavirus tests was damaged in an Israeli air strike, but reopened last Thursday.

At the Al-Rimal Clinic in Gaza City, windows were replaced and rooms cleaned, and the machines - which were lightly damaged - were examined and approved for use, Dr Dhair said.

The lab last Thursday and Friday processed 547 Covid-19 tests, of which 202 were positive.

Mr Michael Lynk, the UN special rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, said preserving vaccine access is crucial in Gaza, where inoculation was temporarily halted by the fighting.

Gaza remains highly vulnerable to a Covid-19 outbreak, with fewer than 4 per cent of its population fully or partially vaccinated - far below the 60 per cent in Israel, one of the highest rates in the world.

"Israel is the occupying power in the West Bank and in Gaza, and it has very strict obligations," Mr Lynk said, adding that the UN has reminded Israel of those obligations.

Getting vaccine supplies into the territory has been challenging. Gaza lacks funds to buy vaccines, and although it is supposed to receive aid from Covax, the global vaccine-sharing programme has been slow to deliver the doses.

NYTIMES