EU delegation to provide COVID-19 tests, vaccine to Gaza

Sven Kuhn Burgsdorff

Sven Kuhn Burgsdorff

Sven Kuhn Burgsdorff

A European Union diplomatic delegation pledged to help the Gaza Strip with its fight against the coronavirus during a visit to the Palestinian enclave on Tuesday.

The EU representative in the Palestinian territories, Sven Kuhn Burgsdorff, said this during a news conference in Gaza.

Burgsdorff said that the bloc would provide coronavirus tests to the Strip, which ran out of tests the day before.

The World Health Organisation supplied 19,500 tests to the Hamas-run Health Ministry on Monday afternoon, which said the quantity was sufficient for eight days.

Burgsdorff also said the EU would work on delivering coronavirus vaccines to the territory, especially to front-line health workers and the elderly.

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The Palestinian Authority is expected to receive COVID-19 vaccines from the vaccine distribution alliance Covax.

Gaza will get a share of those, but it is not yet known when.

The delegation’s tour of the area included a visit to a hospital designated for treating coronavirus patients.

The number of infections has recently spiked in Gaza, where 2 million people live in cramped conditions with poor infrastructure.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) has warned that the strip’s health system could collapse if the number of cases continues to rise.

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