Published : 25-04-2020
Four residents of a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon tested positive for the novel coronavirus, bringing total cases in the area to five.
Authorities closed all entrances to AlJalil Palestinian refugee camp in eastern Lebanon on Friday after four more people tested positive for COVID-19, heightening concerns the virus could further spread among its overcrowded population.
The four infected with the virus are relatives of a Palestinian woman from Syria who tested positive earlier this week and are quarantined inside their home, according to a statement from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
The Palestinian woman who was taken to a hospital in Beirut this week became the first refugee living in a camp in Lebanon to contract the virus, a finding that triggered a spate of testing in the camp.
The woman is identified as Manal Shehabi, displaced from Syria’s Yarmouk displacement camp.
Lebanon, a tiny country of five million people, is host to tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, most of them living in squalid camps with no access to public services, with limited employment opportunities and no rights to ownership.
On Friday, Palestinian fighters in charge of the camp security wore face masks as they patrolled the narrow streets and alleyways of the camp with an estimated population of up to 3,000.
Four residents of a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon tested positive for the novel coronavirus, bringing total cases in the area to five.
Authorities closed all entrances to AlJalil Palestinian refugee camp in eastern Lebanon on Friday after four more people tested positive for COVID-19, heightening concerns the virus could further spread among its overcrowded population.
The four infected with the virus are relatives of a Palestinian woman from Syria who tested positive earlier this week and are quarantined inside their home, according to a statement from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
The Palestinian woman who was taken to a hospital in Beirut this week became the first refugee living in a camp in Lebanon to contract the virus, a finding that triggered a spate of testing in the camp.
The woman is identified as Manal Shehabi, displaced from Syria’s Yarmouk displacement camp.
Lebanon, a tiny country of five million people, is host to tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, most of them living in squalid camps with no access to public services, with limited employment opportunities and no rights to ownership.
On Friday, Palestinian fighters in charge of the camp security wore face masks as they patrolled the narrow streets and alleyways of the camp with an estimated population of up to 3,000.
