The Palestinian city of Nablus in the West Bank went back into total lockdown for one week Saturday after a significant rise in the number of COVID-19 cases. Palestinian police control the streets to ensure compliance with health and safety measaures.

When asked about the lockdown, Governor of Nablus Ibrahim Ramadan told AFP "We did this (the closure of Nablus) due to the high number of people infected (with the virus) in the governorate, which led to the number reaching the red signal, which rings the alarm in the Nablus governorate, so sadly we had to do this procedure."

He added that "We know that (the closure) harms the economy, harms the merchants, and harms the poor; but the closure is only for public health."