QUARANTINE - DAY 1 - 6th March 2020

Last night the Palestinian Authority declared a state of emergency across the West Bank and it was announced by the Israeli Defence Minister that because of Covid_19 no one would be allowed to enter or exit Bethlehem for 30 days - Bethlehem is in lockdown. The move came after 7 were tested positive for Covid_19 in Bethlehem. 
Churches and Mosques are to be closed for two weeks and all tourists banned for an unspecified amount of time from Palestine.
The Palestine Marathon has been cancelled as well as many other events.

We will be bringing you a daily report of life in Bethlehem through interviews over the next 30 days to provide an insight into everyday life in a city under quarantine.

The director of Amwaj childrens choir, Bethlehem and his team took the choir to France on a tour and arrived back as the quarantine was being enforced. He reports on his journey back with the children on Day 1 of the lockdown.

The children’s choir Amwaj (Waves, in Arabic) returned to Bethlehem after their 10-day tour in France - 
Concerts in Saint-Omer (La Barcarolle), Paris (Philharmonie), Lyon (Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste)

On the evening of 4 March (Lyon), between 6 pm and midnight we receive the following information. 
  • Israel has adopted the following measures, effective immediately:
  • Quarantine for any person who arrives from a range of countries including France
  • Deny entry to any non-resident (in Israel but also in the Occupied Territories)
  • Postponement of the above measures to Friday 6 March (so we would be ok) but different sources had different versions of this
  • Rumours spread in Bethlehem that Amwaj coordinator Amira Musallam was infected, alongside one of the children.
On 5 March, the day of travel back to Palestine we encountered a few obstacles
  • At Lyon airport, the group was able to board the flight and informed that they might be quarantined upon arrival
  • First confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Bethlehem
  • Amira Musallam (in Bethlehem) was informed that her medical tests showed she did not have the Coronavirus, but a simple flu
  • 5 pm: The group arrived in Tel Aviv and was asked if they had been in Italy over the previous week. Since that was not the case, the whole group was allowed to enter by the Israeli authorities, without any mention of quarantine. The group boarded a tour bus that was organized by Amwaj.
  • The Palestinian Health Ministry instructed the Amwaj group to go to Jericho, which it designated as the place for virus tests and quarantine (not just for Amwaj, but for any suspected case)
  • Unable to head back to Jericho. The bus headed back to Bethlehem for virus checks in a medical center there
  • Midnight: 
  • All virus tests were over, and the group was informed that, actually, everyone can go back home and wait for the results
  • The police informed us that Bethlehem would be sealed off at 6 am the following morning, for one month
  • All the children are back in their families by 1.30 am.
6 March, 1st day of closure of Bethlehem:
            The results of the virus tests of the Amwaj group arrive: all negative (no Coronavirus detected)