Coronavirus depletes Gaza: workers under the guillotine

Loop | The young driver, Muhammad Zahir, checks his car parked in front of his home in the northern Gaza Strip. Check the status of your battery and motor. It is now four in the afternoon. In this era, he was supposed to wander the streets to earn a living. But, “Surprise me in front of you”, says Zahir, “I kept inspecting it until it was interrupted with the pause, to its shape, very elongated … and I cried this luck again.” He pulled the mop out of his hand and added with an audible sigh: “Besides the difficult life, we were less than Corona! Oh, Gaza, what is hidden from us. “For 15 days, Zahir (29 years old) did not go out to work like most of the workers of Gaza, after a full curfew after more than a thousand registered Cases of coronavirus With great anguish, he adds: “I have five children, and I have not been able to provide them with food since the imposition of the ban”, adding: “No one is watching us.”

The consequences of the Corona outbreak in the Gaza Strip besieged for more than 14 years were quickly apparent. But the direct damage, and to a large extent, was for the day laborers, that is, street vendors, street owners, taxi drivers, workers in kindergartens, shops and factories. In Zahir’s case, it applies to those whose work has been completely suspended. The head of the unions in Gaza, Sami Al-Amsi, told Al-Akhbar that “160,000 day laborers have been affected directly or indirectly.” Its losses during the first ten days of closing were estimated at $ 27-29 million. Al-Amsi pointed out that 90% of the workers in Gaza are under the heading “daily”, and that they need great support from the competent authorities, adding: “Before Corona, there were more than 250,000 unemployed, and now the number reaches 300 with continuous closure. thousand “.
According to Al-Amsi, the union submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Labor to establish a fund to help workers and allocate them a fixed portion of charitable aid and subsidies. But the imposition of the ban “prevented the union from continuing … There are promises of concrete steps soon.” As for “work,” his agent, Musa Al-Sammak, says it places day laborers at the top of the scale of concerns, targeting the sum of 70,000 names of affected workers to benefit from the $ 100 Qatari grant. , in addition to poor families. However, there is skepticism about the feasibility of these steps, compared to the total number of unemployed and the value of the aid itself (340 shekels), it does not seem to help workers during their crisis. “What do you want to earn with $ 100?” Says Mohammed Al-Madhoun, 32, a clothing salesman. Do you want to feed a family? Doubt is enough for the needs of children ».

“Salud” Says Injuries Didn’t Exceed Expectations, But Drug Crisis Is Big

Regarding the epidemic, the Gaza Health Ministry affirms that the level of injuries is still within the expected rates, and that “until now, it has not gone beyond the ministry’s previous plans.” Sources from the Ministry of Health indicated that the latter took advantage of the delay in the arrival of Corona to the sector to train 11 thousand cadres from the ministry and medical and security institutions, as well as to improve the preparation of hospitals and follow up on international experiences in the confrontation of the epidemic. Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra says they expected 260 cases to be reported daily, “which means we have not gone beyond the stage of working to contain the epidemic.” And he adds: “The number of patients who need artificial respiration of the total injuries that have been registered is only four people, while between 50 and 55 receive clinical care in the isolation hospital … The deaths registered were due to chronic diseases in advanced state “.
Despite this limited optimism, Gaza Pharmacy Director General Munir Al-Borsh describes the pharmaceutical reality as “very difficult”, especially since the requirements to face “Corona” are not sufficient for Gaza except for two weeks. or one month at the latest. Al-Borsh shows that the primary care service necessary to face the pandemic suffers a deficit of 60%, and the drug warehouses in Gaza suffer a shortage of 50% of the necessary and required items at this stage, especially for patients who they need basic services like dialysis, cancer and hemophilia, and 37% There are no essential medical supplies available.
In addition, 195 new cases were reported in Gaza as of noon yesterday, bringing the total number of injuries to 1,551, including 1,427 active cases (1,422 within the Gaza Strip and 5 in traveler quarantine centers), while that the number of deaths reached 10 (9 within the governorates, including one baby, and one case in Burrow Centers).

Subscribe to «News» on YouTube here