“The Palestinian health ministry has approved the main Russian vaccine against Covid-19, known as Sputnik V, for domestic use, making it "the first country in the Middle East" to do so, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund said on Monday.

In a statement, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) confirmed that the Palestinians had registered for the vaccine “under the emergency use authorisation procedure without additional clinical trials in the country”, following the footsteps of local regulators in Algeria, Argentina, Bolivia and Serbia.”

“The statement added that the occupation state hasn’t stopped arrests even with the spread of the coronavirus. over 300 Palestinians have been arrested since last March.”

“During an April 24 press conference in Ramallah, PA spokesman Ibrahim Melhem stressed the need for residents to perform their Ramadan religious and social rites at home. Although visits to relatives and iftars (breaking of the daily fast) are the norm during Ramadan, he noted that doing so this year threatened to broaden the spread of COVID-19. Melhem stressed that the government is counting on citizen awareness of the relevant restrictions and everyone abiding by them.”

“In the Gaza Strip, engineer Mohammed Abu Matar and his team at Tashkeel 3D are using 3D printing technology to produce medical equipment needed to confront the pandemic.”

“What started as an experiment days after the coronavirus outbreak in the West Bank is now a factory producing thousands of masks a day.