Senior PLO member Hanan Ashrawi tests positive for coronavirus

Palestinian Liberation Organization executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi has tested positive for the coronavirus, the PLO says in a statement

The announcement follows PLO secretary general Saeb Erekat’s diagnosis with the novel coronavirus on Thursday night. Erekat had attended a meeting of senior Palestinian officials four days before his announcement, at which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was present, according to the Kan public broadcaster.

The PLO’s statement does not say whether Ashrawi was infected at the same meeting.

At the time, all the officials present were said to have tested negative. But the long incubation period of the coronavirus means that still more senior PLO officials may announce that they have been infected with the virus.

— Aaron Boxerman