(8 Mar 2020) The director of Bethlehem's police force on Sunday said officers were implementing "new measures" as they attempt to battle the coronavirus outbreak in the West Bank.
Colonel Tariq Al-Hajj said: "We are isolating the governorate and we are limiting the movement of the residents of Bethlehem to other governorates except those who want to travel abroad."
Nineteen people in the West Bank tested positive for the virus, fourteen of which were hotel workers.
Police closed roads outside hotels and inspected vehicles as part of the new measures whilst the Church of the Nativity in the biblical city remained closed, weeks ahead of the busy Easter season.
Cordons were put up along roads outside the Paradise Hotel whist the Angel hotel in Beit Jala, the epicentre of the West Bank's coronavirus scare, is in lockdown.
The virus has generated a sense of panic throughout Bethlehem - the biblical town revered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus Christ.
Streets have been empty since the first cases were announced last week, and the Church of the Nativity, built on the grotto where tradition says Christ was born, has been closed to the public.
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