ICRC Warns Gaza Cannot Cope With More Than 150 Serious COVID-19 Cases

ICRC Warns Gaza Cannot Cope With More Than 150 Serious COVID-19 Cases

Gaza may be unable to cope with more than 100-150 severe coronavirus cases, so it needs help from international and regional organizations, Anastasiya Isyuk, an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) representative in the region, told Sputnik

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd April, 2020) Gaza may be unable to cope with more than 100-150 severe coronavirus cases, so it needs help from international and regional organizations, Anastasiya Isyuk, an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) representative in the region, told Sputnik.

Over the past 24 hours, Palestine has registered a record 21 new COVID-19 cases, which brought the total number to 155. Of these, the Gaza Strip, which is being governed by Hamas, accounts for a total of 12 cases. One patient has died in Palestine since the start of the outbreak.

"At present, Gaza has the capacity to cope with only up to 100-150 serious cases of COVID-19. If the number of cases exceeded that, the fragile health care system would be incapable of responding. The situation requires the intervention of international and local organizations to exert all efforts to provide the necessary equipment, devices, supplies and medicines," the head of communications of the ICRC in Israel and occupied territories said.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza has confirmed that it is critically short on drugs and laboratory supplies, and has "limited coronavirus testing materials," Isyuk added.

Gaza, with its population of nearly 2 million, has only 110 intensive care beds for adults � most of them occupied � and 93 ventilators, according to the ICRC representative.

"Even before the pandemic, Gaza was facing serious systemic issues impacting the quality of health care available for its population. These range from the lack of medications to treat chronic diseases, to the ongoing financial crisis, which has been aggravated by restrictions on movement of people and goods for more than a decade and internal Palestinian differences. The idea of further strain on an already stretched and fragile health care system is extremely worrying," she said.

The fuel and energy crisis in Gaza creates even more difficulties since hospitals have to make do with generators, which they use to the fullest capacity, the ICRC representative added.