Palestinians shut West Bank schools as coronavirus variants surge

PA health ministry says intensive care units for COVID-19 patients have reached 95 percent occupancy in the West Bank.

Schools in the occupied West Bank will shut down for 12 days in an effort to stop a sharp rise in coronavirus variant infections, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said on Saturday. High schools will be exempt from the closure which will begin on Sunday, Shtayyeh said in a televised address, adding the new restrictions were prompted by a rising number of cases of the coronavirus variants first discovered in the United Kingdom and South Africa. Intensive care units for COVID-19 patients have reached 95 percent occupancy in the West Bank and schools have been identified as the main cause for the fast spread of infections, the health ministry said.