co-writer Suhair A. Hamed
A mid of the new escalating COVID-19 cases Hebron city became the epicenter of the west bank’s second wave Coronavirus epidemic. A recent record of more than 3000 confirmed cases, Hebron governerate was at the peak of the curve in addition to the unannounced cases that exceeded 400 confirmed infections in one day, which obliged the Palestinian authority (PA) to impose a-5 day lockdown on the city with a potential to extend the period to stem the spread of the pandemic.
Hebron is one (if not most) of the main (PA) commercial hubs, it is consisting of a vast but very close knit of clans, each of which has more than 10000 population, these strong relationships that are widely seen in occasional gatherings such as wedding parties, funerals, students graduation parties, where you might have more than 1500 participants in each explain the wide spread of the virus.
The violation of the social distancing, wearing masks and gloves and the non adherence to other preventive measures were some reasons behind the wide spread of the epidemic.
Another strong reason as well is the daily movement of Palestinian workers to and from the PA under control regions and the Israeli regions through the crossings on both sides.
No enough control, no abidance with quarantine rules, these serve as a good media to spread the virus.
The visiting between close relatives of the same tribe in both sides of Hebron (A&B) under (PA &Israeli controls) respectively play a role in spreading the virus .
