Jenin to be placed under 5-day virus lockdown

The West Bank city of Jenin and the eponymous refugee camp will enter lockdown for the next five days to prevent further spread of coronavirus, says Jenin governor Akram Rajoub.

Small towns in the West Bank have been occasionally been quarantined since the last major attempt at lockdown in July, but the decision to impose a lockdown in Jenin marks the first time that a Palestinian city is being placed under curfew.

Jenin and its refugee camp have about 60,000 residents, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

“After assessing the epidemiological developments in Jenin and Jenin refugee camp and the increase in the number of active infections with the coronavirus to 177, it was decided to lock them both down beginning tomorrow at dawn,” Rajoub says in a statement.

The lockdown is set to begin tomorrow morning and will last until next Sunday, according to Rajoub. Supermarkets and grocery stores will be allowed to open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

There are currently 6,069 active cases among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, a sharp decrease from the peak of over 10,000 last month. Much of the decline may be due to limited testing, however. The PA only conducts 3,000-4,000 tests a day for a population of almost 3 million.

— Aaron Boxerman