An-Najah News -  A new coronavirus case was confirmed today in the occupied West Bank, raising the total number of confirmed cases in Palestine to 627, said Minister of Health Mai Alkaila.

Qalqilya district has recently witnessed at least a dozen new cases of coronavirus.

A 30-year-old woman tested positive after being infected by her father in the village of Hajja in the northern West Bank district of Qalqilya.

Alkaila said 99 cases remain active.

An-Najah News - According to education ministry officials, after two months of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic that hit the world and closure of all academic institutions, over 78,000 Palestinian high school students started this morning their final matriculation exams known as tawjihi.

They said the 78,400 students in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip are sitting for the exams that would allow them to move on to higher education despite the coronavirus scare and with strict precautions to assure the health of the students and teachers.

Studies were interrupted in early March after the declaration of a total lockdown in Palestine following the discovery of the first cases of disease in the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem and students did not have a chance to finish the academic year due to the forced closure of all schools to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

Exam halls were sprayed beforehand and students were seated at least two meters apart, along with other procedures as demanded by the Palestinian Ministry of Health such as the requirement to wear face masks that cover their mouth and nose.