FREE: SYRIA IN CONTEXT - CORONAVIRUS UPDATE 2
Dear friends and colleagues,
Given the extraordinary global challenge of Covid-19, we have decided to share with you again our weekly spotlight on the CoronaVirus response in Syria.
For our previous issue, based on original reporting on the situation in government hospitals, click here.
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Thank you,
Emma, Tobias and Suhail
Syria in Context will continue to cover the impact and response to Covid-19 in Syria throughout the coming weeks. For our previous issue, click here.
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SPOTLIGHT: CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
Today, the Syrian government implemented a nighttime curfew from 6:00 pm through 6:00 am to help curb the spread of COVID-19 in Syria. The decision adds to the latest round of measures announced on Sunday after news broke of the first acknowledged CoronaVirus case in the country in which the Syrian Minister of Health identified a 20-year-old female student. Government-aligned journalists report the woman had flown via private jet from the United Kingdom to Lebanon before crossing the Syrian border in a private car just before the entry ban announced a week earlier went into effect. The girl is said to be the London-based daughter of a high-level Syrian official. However, it is believed the young woman actually travelled via the United Arab Emirates to Beirut and was tested en route. UAE officials were unable to quarantine the woman and notified Syrian authorities who took her into quarantine. The woman’s illness was only identified via testing conducted outside of the country, with Syria itself yet to identify a case using their own testing systems.
According to the Minister, the patient is in good health and on track for a full recovery. She is being quarantined in al-Dweir medical facility in Damascus countryside. The public announcement of the case comes after at least a fortnight of credible reports of suspected cases inside Syria, and cases having been exported to third countries such as Pakistan, including an investigation published by Syria in Context last week. It is notable that the political decision was taken to highlight a case that can be traced through the UK and Lebanon as ‘patient zero,’ a move that is likely to be motivated by a desire to blame the west and advance a humanitarian appeal for supplies while also countering potential criticism of the government for allowing continued immigration and travel from Iran where the outbreak is widespread and from where Syria’s early cases likely came.
The head of Damascus Health Directorate said 31 people who were in quarantine were released after their tests came negative while another 107 are waiting for their test results. Last Week, the government announced it set up a quarantine facility in al-Dweir in Damascus countryside for people who are coming from outside Syria. Eventually, the quarantined complained about the bad conditions of the facility including the absence of heating and water, leading the Ministry of Health to transfer them to the Damascus Airport hotel. Eventually, the Ministry announced that al-Zabadani Hospital in Damascus countryside would be designated the new primary isolation hospital for treating COVID-19 patients. Ibn al-Walid Hospital in al-Wa’er neighbourhood in Homs city will also be an isolation facility.
In addition to the aforementioned restrictions, the Syrian Government issued another series of orders to close state institutions (exempting medical and essential infrastructure). The Ministry of Defense announced it was suspending conscription for men eligible for military service until April 22 as well as a temporary amnesty for draft-dodgers who would otherwise have been scared to seek medical aid for fear of arrest. The Ministry of Foreign affairs also announced closing the Ministry’s buildings inside Syria in addition to its embassies and consulates outside Syria while the Ministry of Interior announced suspending issuing family cards, IDs and passports until April 15. As part of the measures announced on Sunday, the government declared the suspension of public transportation in Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Latakia and Hama cities in addition to suspensions of all transportation between provinces. Border crossings with Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan would also be shut, while no mention was made of al-Boukmal crossing with Iraq. In addition, it formalized the ban on non-Syrians who have a residency in Syria and foreigners who obtained visas from the Syrian consulates and embassies abroad from entering the country. After the Damascus Governor announced closing cafes, restaurants and shops, other provinces followed these measures and closed them all except bakeries, pharmacies and the state trade center where the subsidized products are being sold.
Despite the warnings and new measures, Syrians shared photos on social media of long queues in front of bakeries and trade centers to buy bread and main subsidized food products as rumours spread that the distribution centers may be closed. The government has also reportedly launched programmes to procure and distribute essential supplies across the country - from hand sanitizers to bread and produce - going so far as to repurpose Ministers’ cars and drivers for this purpose. Their real impact (or indeed, existence) remains to be seen. Among government-held areas, former opposition strongholds are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, as many have yet to have permanent health facilities restored after they were destroyed by government airstrikes. Many rely on mobile health clinics or long trips into major centres to access health care and may not receive adequate assistance during a Corona outbreak.
In opposition-held areas, Dr. Monzer al-Khalil, the head of the Idlib Health Department, reported this week that four possible cases in the rebel-held areas had tested negative for COVID-19 after swaps were taken and sent to Turkey for testing. Al-Khalil said that the directorate is working with all its partners to try to tackle this issue and would independently announce any discovered cases. Despite initial promises by the WHO that kits would be provided to Idlib province by the end of last week, no independent testing capacity yet exists in Idlib province with some reports that the necessary kits would not arrive for another ten days, leaving local health officials dependent on support from Turkish laboratories across the border. Local activists and civil society groups launched campaigns to raise awareness of the virus and requested people to stay at home and avoid social gatherings. According to The Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), there are only 120 ICU beds in northwest Syria, significantly below the international norm of 1/1000 citizens. Overburdened ICUs proved a key factor in escalating fatality rates in other countries. In Aleppo's northern countryside, the Minister of Health in the Syrian Interim Government announced that there had been another three suspected cases in Efrin but that, again, their swaps were sent to Turkey for testing and came back negative. The Minister further announced that Efrin Hospital would be transitioned into an isolation facility while all other clinics would have to be moved to another building. Two additional isolation facilities would be established soon. Several local councils in Aleppo northern countryside including Azaz, Efrin and al-Bab announced banning all social gatherings and closing restaurants, cafes and markets too in addition to launching social campaigns to raise awareness. The Syrian National Army announced closing Aoun al-Dadat Crossing with SDF in west Manbij and Abu Zendin Crossing with the regime near al-Bab city except for trucks carrying goods and oil tanks.
In Syrian Democratic Forces held areas in northeast Syria, the Self-Administration announced several measures to tackle the spread of COVID-19. After closing the only border crossing with Kurdistan Iraq, Self-Administration announced a curfew in all its held areas starting from Monday except for health workers, local police forces, supermarkets and bakeries. The decision also includes banning all social gatherings and closing restaurants, markets and private health clinics and threatening harsh penalties for anyone who breaks the law. On Monday, Internal Security Forces closed the entrance to Qamishli, in line with the local curfew regulation.
Yesterday saw an appeal by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, which called for a global ceasefire during the CoronaVirus outbreak. Citing the virus's lack of distinction “ethnicity or nationality, faction or faith” Guterres said that it highlights the “folly of war” and called on all parties to prevent bloodshed while they focus on battling the virus. Gutteres’ plea was followed by a similar one from UN Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, who said: “Today, I am appealing specifically for a complete, immediate nationwide ceasefire throughout Syria to enable an all-out-effort to suppress COVID-19 in Syria.” He went on to say: “I also appeal on humanitarian grounds for large scale releases of detainees and abductees. There must also be immediate access for relevant humanitarian organizations to all detention facilities, and urgent steps to ensure adequate medical care and protective measures in all places of detention.”
KEY READS - COVID-19:
Evan Hill and Yousur al-Hlou report on the increasingly dire situation in IDPs camps in northern Syria and the lack of international response to avoid the spread of the Coronavirus in the camps: “Wash Our Hands? Some People Can’t Wash Their Kids for a Week”, (ENG, The New York Times, March 19th, 2020)
In contrast to the statements of Syria’s health minister, doctors in Damascus, Aleppo, and Idlib tell Al-Jumhuriya they are woefully ill-prepared to deal with a Coronavirus outbreak: “COVID-19 in Syria: The disaster waiting to happen”, (ENG, Al Jumhuriya, March 18th, 2020)
Several articles and statements came out this week focusing on the rights and risks to prisoners in Syria during the Corona Virus crisis. Members of the civil society list of the constitutional committee issued a statement on March 19, calling for the protection of prisoners in Syria who are especially vulnerable to the Corona Virus due to the appalling conditions they are kept within. The Tahrir Institute also issued a statement about the rights of prisoners in the region during the Corona Virus outbreak, ‘TIMEP Calls for Urgent Action around Detention in MENA Amid COVID-19,’ (EN, TIMEP, March 23, 2020). HRW’s Sara Kayyali highlights the dangerous risk that the Coronavirus may have on Syrian detainees in the overcrowded and lacking basic health conditions detention centers of the Syrian government: “Syria’s Detainees Left Even More Vulnerable to Coronavirus”, (ENG, Human Rights Watch, March 16th, 2020)
Foreign Policy took a look at the implications of CoronaVirus getting into refugee and IDP camps, ‘The Next Wave’, (EN, Foreign policy, March 23, 2020,
SJAC examines the relationship between the weaponization of public health in Syria and the implications of the Corona Virus, ‘Public Health as a Weapon: Syria and COVID-19,’ (EN, SJAC, March 18, 2020).
CNN have published a long piece about Corona Virus preparedness in Syria, in particular the lack of it in the northwest. ‘If coronavirus spreads to this population, it could be catastrophic,’ (EN, CNN, March 24, 2020)
Syria in Context will continue to cover the impact and response to Covid-19 in Syria throughout the coming weeks.
We are a wholly subscriber-funded publication. If you have found this update useful, we encourage you to consider joining our growing community:
SYRIA IN CONTEXT is a subscription newsletter edited by Emma Beals and Tobias Schneider and written with Suhail al-Ghazi. You can follow us on twitter @SyriaInContext or email us at SyriaInContext@gmail.com.
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