Gaza reported its first cases of COVID-19 in the general population on Monday, while the government showed four infections in a refugee camp and security forces declared a full 48-hour blockade.
The four cases came here from a circle of unmarried relatives in a camp in central Gaza, a government spokesman said, amid considerations of the potentially disastrous mix of poverty in Gaza, densely populated refugee camps and limited hospital capacity.
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“A full curfew will be imposed from tonight and from the Gaza Strip,” said Salama Marouf, president of the government’s media office. “It will come with official, personal and educational amenities, as well as the closure of mosques, markets, wedding halls and sports clubs.”
He continued: “We are now running to find out the reasons for the infection and the map of those who have made contact with the inflamed cases.”
Prior to the announcement, Gaza security forces began final entries to Gaza city, according to a repeating training in July.
As rumors spread, other people rushed to supermarkets to inventory food and hygiene products.
As of Monday, the 360-square-kilometre coastal strip, home to 2 million Palestinians, had not reported outdoor infections at quarantine centers.
These centers recorded one and 109 infections.
Those who arrived in Gaza had to spend 21 days in the centers on the orders of Hamas, the armed Islamist who has controlled Gaza for more than a decade.
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The 40 km long coastal strip is flanked by Israel to the north and east and by Egypt along its southern border. Both countries imposed restrictions on movement, raising security considerations on Hamas, which Israel and the United States are a terrorist organization.
As a result, most Gazans had limited access to abroad around the world for years due to the blockade, which many compared to a permanent closure.
“The virus will enter (in) Array … Gaza cannot be isolated from the world forever,” said Abdelnaser Soboh, director of the World Health Organization’s Gaza office in July.
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