Palestinian Authority (PA) cabinet leader Mohammad Shtayyeh on Monday declared an end to the two-month long lockdown that was imposed in early March with the discovery of the first cases of coronavirus in Bethlehem. Speaking at a press conference in Ramallah and quoted by the PA’s official Wafa news agency, Shtayyeh said that following the sharp decline in cases that currently stand at only 122 active cases, a decision was made to allow return to normal life. At the same time, he warned that if the number of cases increase, the lockdown will be re-imposed. Courts, all government ministries and institutions, shops, mosques, churches, public transportation, parks, nurseries, restaurants, coffee shops, events halls and educational institutions will return to normal scheduling starting in Tuesday, said Shtayyeh. The decision to remove the lockdown comes about ten days after PA health authorities said that no new coronavirus cases had been reported in the PA. Shtayyeh recently announced a partial ease on the lockdown restrictions put in place to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. That announcement came a day after PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas agreed to extend the state of emergency that was declared over the spread of coronavirus until June 5.
