UPDATE - Israel isolates 4 Palestinian inmates amid virus fears

UPDATES WITH MORE INFO, CHANGES HEADLINE, LEDE, DECK

By Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH (AA) - The Israeli Prison Service said Thursday it had isolated four Palestinian inmates after they were suspected of coming into contact with a "person" having coronavirus.

The service affirmed that none of them was infected with the new coronavirus.

The Palestinian Prisoner Society earlier said that four Palestinian prisoners contracted the the virus in an Israeli prison.

In a press release, the non-governmental organization said the Israel Prison Service informed that the prisoners caught the virus in Megiddo Prison, which was transmitted to inmates by a prisoner who was interrogated by an Israeli investigator at the Petah Tikva Investigation Center.

"The prisoners face the risk of infection from the jailers and investigators who pose a threat to their lives," the NGO added.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh on Saturday asked the Israeli authorities to immediately release the Palestinian prisoners languishing in the Israeli jails.

Shtayyeh asserted that the release should include child prisoners and those suffering from chronic diseases.

According to Palestinian authorities, 5,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli detention facilities.

The virus, which originated in China last December, has now spread to 159 countries and region, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the U.S.

Out of over 219,000 confirmed cases, the death toll is now nearly 9,000, while more than 84,000 have recovered.

COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, is not fatal in all cases and a vast majority of patients do fully recover.

*Writing by Ali Abo Rezeg in Ankara