Attachments
• This report compares two months: the period 16 July to 15 August 2021, to the period 16 August to 15 September 2021. MOH considered that the acceleration in reported cases during September represent the third wave of COVID19 in Gaza strip.
• Ministry of Health (MOH) has stopped random testing in areas with high previous infection rates or high vaccination coverage since June2011, while focusing on testing suspected cases, and a small number of contacts and traveler who need Covid19 free certificate.
• MOH has increased the use of rapid test for suspected cases while SARS-COV2-PCR is currently used mainly for unconfirmed cases and for travelers.
• There is a fivefold increase in total number of conducted tests (both COVID-19 Antigen Rapid test and SARS-COV2-PCR test) from 20144 between 16 June-15 Aug. 2021, to 114910 between 16 Aug-15 Sep.
• There is a significant acceleration in reported cases during second period , there is tenfold increase in number of newly reported COVID-19 cases: from 3458 between 15 July-16 Aug. 2021, to 3,3387 between 16 Aug-15Sep..
• Increase in new reported cases and in incidence rate of COVID-19 infection per 100,000 population in all districts was noticed during the second period (Figures 2 and 3).
• Since the MOH stopped random testing, they stopped working on traffic light system and the distribution of cases on a map.