The Palestinian Health Ministry announced on Tuesday the death of a 12-day-old baby in the town of Yatta, southwest of Hebron. The baby had died infected by the coronavirus, making him the youngest killed by the virus in Palestine so far.
The infant originally tested negative for coronavirus, then tested positive four days later, PA Health Ministry spokesperson Kamal al-Shakhra said.
He said that the baby had suffered from heart problems.
Currently, the PA’s Health Ministry is conducting an investigation as to how the infant got infected.
The ministry said in a press statement that, in addition to the infant, a 54-year-old Palestinian from East Jerusalem, two men aged 75 and 90, and a woman aged 75 from the southern West Bank district of Hebron died from the coronavirus on Tuesday.
The death toll from COVID-19 reached 47 since the outbreak of the epidemic in the Palestinian territories on March 5, said the statement.
The ministry continued to record hundreds of COVID-19 cases daily. It reported 293 new COVID-19 infections and 59 new recoveries in both the West Bank and East Jerusalem within the last 24 hours.
In a press release, the Ministry of Health stated that the infections were distributed as follows: Hebron Governorate 185 and 108 in the city of Jerusalem, one in Beitunia, Ramallah Governorate, one in Illar, Tulkarm, 18 in Bethlehem, 3 in Jenin Governorate, and 4 in camp Askar in Nablus.
On Tuesday, controversy arose over the availability of COVID-19 examining kits in the West Bank.
Health officials announced that there is a significant shortage of testing materials in the laboratories for testing coronavirus samples.
As of Tuesday, health workers will not be able to test virus samples in Hebron because of the shortage. Laboratories in Ramallah, on the other hand, have enough testing kits to test samples for another week.
