Coronavirus infects 79 more in blockaded Gaza

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Palestinian health authorities registered 79 new infections from the coronavirus outbreak in the blockaded Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

In a statement, the Health Ministry said the tally of confirmed cases rose to 2,006 in the territory, including 15 deaths and 303 recoveries. “The number of active cases in Gaza rose to 1,688,” the ministry said.

Reeling under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2007, the Gaza Strip suffers a severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies, in addition to daily electric outages.

The Hamas-led government imposed a lockdown in Gaza on Aug. 24 to help curb the outbreak in the blockaded enclave, although the authorities have recently eased the restrictions in some neighborhoods in the territory.