The Palestinian authorities have declared a total lockdown in the West Bank just five weeks after their previous one was lifted. The decision comes amid a dramatic rise in new Covid-19 infections which has more than doubled the number of known cases in the space of a week.
The new lockdown...
Blog archive: All
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2nd July 2020
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30th June 2020Iraq's run-down healthcare system is contributing to the spread of coronavirus rather than helping to contain it, according to a report issued last week: ● Medical staff are kept working when they should be in isolation; ● Hospitals are kept open when they should be closed to...
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27th June 2020Situation report: week ending 27 June 2020 REGIONAL OVERVIEW The initial wave of Covid-19 infections has passed its peak in most countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Many have now embarked on a step-by-step process of easing lockdowns and other...
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24th June 2020Until recently Israel and Palestine seemed to have brought their coronavirus epidemics under control but both are now seeing large numbers of new infections. Yesterday Israel reported 430 new cases – its biggest rise for two months. Palestine reported 179 – its highest number since the...
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22nd June 2020The Moroccan army has set up an emergency field hospital to care for hundreds of strawberry packers who have tested positive for coronavirus over the last few days. The outbreak in Kenitra province, north of the capital, Rabat, is the biggest so far recorded in Morocco which has seen only 10,000...
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21st June 2020Saudi Arabia ended its coronavirus lockdown this morning despite record numbers of new infections during the past week. Lifting the lockdown brings an end to the night curfews first imposed in March. It also means mosques can reopen and all economic activity can resume, subject to...
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20th June 2020Situation report: week ending 20 June 2020 REGIONAL OVERVIEW The initial wave of Covid-19 infections has passed its peak in most countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Many of them have begun easing lockdowns and other restrictions, but in some of them new...
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19th June 2020From now until mid-September, Qatari citizens wishing to return home from abroad must first get permission from the government and then spend two weeks in quarantine when they arrive. It's a kind of luxurious imprisonment – at their own expense. Before boarding their flight they must book a...
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18th June 2020Palestinian authorities have reported a surge of coronavirus infections. Seventy-four new cases have been confirmed since Monday, mostly in the West Bank district of Hebron. This comes after several weeks when new cases were averaging less than four a day. CLICK HERE to jump to Middle East...
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17th June 2020Amnesty International has accused Bahrain and Kuwait of running "roughshod over people's privacy" in their use of surveillance technology during the coronavirus pandemic. The human rights organisation carried out a detailed technical analysis of phone apps in seven Arab states plus France,...
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16th June 2020On Sunday Egypt announced that it will be ready to receive foreign tourists again in a couple of weeks. On Monday it announced a record number of new coronavirus cases and a record number of related deaths. While many countries have waited for the Covid-19 epidemic to pass its peak before...
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15th June 2020Regional round-up ● Saudi Arabia reported 4,233 new Covid-19 infections yesterday – the kingdom's highest daily total so far. Around 40% of the new cases are in the capital, Riyadh, and according to the health ministry they were found mainly "among young people who may not have been...
