SYRIA IN CONTEXT - CORONAVIRUS UPDATE #12
Dear friends and colleagues,
In recent weeks, Syria in Context has been making our COVID-19 coverage available as a free supplement in English, as well as in Arabic (with kind support from the Heinrich Böll Stiftung). Given the lack of independent and reliable coverage of the unfolding crisis, we think this is an urgent necessity.
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Thank you,
Emma, Tobias and Asser
Syria in Context will continue to cover the impact and response to COVID-19 in Syria throughout the coming weeks. You can find previous updates on our website.
We are a wholly subscriber-funded publication. If you have found this update useful, we encourage you to consider joining our growing community by subscribing.
SPOTLIGHT: COVID-19 UPDATE
As of Tuesday, June 3, Syria has 129 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 67 of which remain active. Of the confirmed cases, 123 are in government-controlled areas, registered by the Syrian Ministry of Health, while six were in Syria’s northeast. The northwest still has no confirmed cases, having conducted 778 tests.
Government-controlled areas: The Syrian Ministry of Health said on Tuesday, June 3, that they had confirmed 123 cases of COVID-19. 67 cases are presently active, with six deaths and 50 recoveries reported. The most recent death was reported on Tuesday. The Ministry of Health made a point of highlighting that the victim had asthma and heart trouble, two underlying conditions that increase the risk of Coronavirus developing into a more serious illness or death in those who contract it.
Syria has seen a sharp spike in new cases in the last few weeks after the government allowed Syrians who were stuck abroad during the pandemic to return home. Of the officially confirmed cases, 84 are from repatriated or imported infections. Local reporting raises fears that these imported cases could set off a wave of community spread in government-controlled areas. For example, a new case reported in Sweida on June 1 was said to be the family member of a recent returnee from the UAE who had tested negative while in quarantine and had been released. Another man, in the town of Al-Thyabie, reportedly developed symptoms after being discharged from a quarantine centre leading the Ministry of Health to quarantine his building and neighbourhood. Last week, opposition media reported that a man who had recently returned from Kuwait died shortly after he was discharged from an isolation facility. His family was subsequently quarantined. Syria Direct has documented reports of 318 cases of medical quarantines, “as well as suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19 throughout Syria, both via public and private sources within the country.” In addition to returning civilians from abroad, flights continue between Damascus and Tehran, with Iran which had been hit hard by the virus, now reporting a major second wave of COVID-19 cases. To date, no COVID-19 cases directly linked to Iran have been reported, despite the quarantining of suburbs with high numbers of Iranian-linked militias. By May 26, the MoH said they had performed around 4,300 tests in Damascus, with another 63 tests being undertaken in Aleppo, 335 in Latakia and 185 in Homs.
While the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 reporting and testing systems have improved in recent weeks, and anecdotal reports of unseasonably high numbers of pneumonia and respiratory disease cases have subsided, the available data does not allow us to make a judgement about the possible prevalence of undetected cases of community spread. Currently, disease tracking data used by the Ministry of Health and the WHO is only available until March 16, making it hard for those outside the country to gauge the rates of flu-like and other severe respiratory infections that could indicate an undiscovered outbreak of the virus. Tracking data for January to mid-March was only released a few weeks ago, and showed an uptick in respiratory disease in the weeks leading up to the first confirmed COVID-19 case in Syria on March 22.
Prevention measures across Syria are being relaxed, with the government having lifted the daily curfew and domestic travel restrictions it imposed in territories they control from May 26. Markets can now open between 8am and 7pm, while premises with large social gatherings, such as restaurants, gyms, theatres, and the like remain closed. Mosques are similarly allowed to open any day. Schools and universities have reopened as of Sunday. The government has not ruled out the need to reimpose curfew and preventative measures if the virus begins to spread again.
Northwest: As of June 1, there were no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in northwestern Syria where 785 tests have been conducted.
The health sector in the northwest is still ill-equipped to deal with a potential outbreak, though efforts to improve preparedness have ramped up in recent weeks. Tents have been set up in health facilities across Idlib and northern Aleppo, where patients can be triaged at hospitals and medical clinics. Patients and visitors will now enter a sorting tent upon their arrival at health centers before accessing the primary facilities. At the tent, temperatures are checked and personal hygiene measures are taken. Those with severe fever will be transferred to isolation for further medical examination. Additional isolation centers have been created for those with symptoms similar to those of the Coronavirus. At least four hospitals are now equipped to receive future critical cases of coronavirus. The Syrian Interim Government’s Directorate of Health signed an agreement with the Syria Recovery Trust Fund (SRTF) to support healthcare projects in the area, including 96 tent facilities, a testing lab and an ICU with 18 ventilators. Major gaps in protection equipment (PPE) supplies are still plaguing the area.
While the region has thus far avoided a Coronavirus outbreak, it has been heavily impacted by prevention measures such as social distancing and closures which affect the local economy and humanitarian programming on which local residents depend for their livelihoods. With schools closed, distance learning services have been able to reach no more than only 10 percent of children. The Syrian Interim Government’s Ministry of Education announced that a summer semester, designed to make up for time lost during the spring due to lockdown measures, will start on June 6 and extend on until August 15.
Northeast: As of 29 May, there have been a total of six confirmed cases of COVID-19 in northeast Syria, including one death. All five non-fatal cases have since recovered. As of May 29, at least 151 samples had been collected in the northeast through three different testing systems, one which is processed in Damascus, another in Idlib, and another with local facilities. Work to improve the availability of health centres has continued, with 347 of a planned 899 isolation beds now available, but zero out of 65 planned ICU isolation beds yet ready to receive any potential patients. There is an acute shortage of essential COVID-19 supplies, including PPE, and medical equipment such as ventilators.
A daily curfew remains in place from 7pm until 6am, only to be reviewed and revised on June 5. Travel is permitted between districts but not governorates. For restaurants, takeaway and deliveries are allowed while sit-down dining remains forbidden as are other social gatherings and events. The Tabqa crossing point to government-held areas was open for people to travel to see family and friends over the Eid holiday, between May 20 and 27 May. A reported 4,500 people crossed during the period. The travellers were subjected to rapid diagnostic checks administered by local authorities before being allowed to continue to their destination. All tests have returned negative and no quarantine was imposed. From May 31 until Thursday, June 4, Tayha and Tabqa crossing will again be opened. The spike in cases in government-controlled areas in recent days means this latest movement of people could prove a vector for the spread of new infections in the northeast.
Due to the COVID-19 impact on education, local authorities decided to end the school year early and move all children to the higher grade, beginning when schools reopen for the next educational year in September.
Neighbouring countries: As of Tuesday, June 3, there were 164,769 COVID-19 cases in Turkey where 4,563 people have died of the virus and 128 947 have recovered. On Sunday, Turkey lifted a number of COVID-19 restrictions, allowing restaurants, cafes, parks and sports facilities to reopen. Some measures remain, however, with busy areas of Istanbul requiring masks and hand sanitizers. There are 755 cases in Jordan, 549 have recovered, and there have been nine deaths. In Lebanon, there are 1,242 cases, including 27 deaths, and 719 people have recovered. The majority of Lebanon’s new cases are from repatriated citizens. The process of testing and quarantine arrivals has been poorly organized and lax, with one new recent case the result of a visit from a newly arrived family member.
COVID-19 Key Reads:
The lockdown measures taken by Lebanon exacerbated the grave economic situation refugees had already been living: ‘Starving is worse: Syrian refugees pushed to the edge of survival under Lebanon's lockdown’ (EN, Nicholas Frakes, Al-Araby, May 5, 2020)
The latest available “Epidemiological Weekly Bulletin” for northwest Syria for the week 17-23 May (EN, Assistance Coordination Unit)
Syria in Context will continue to cover the impact and response to COVID-19 in Syria throughout the coming weeks. You can find previous updates on our website.
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 Asser Khattab. You can follow us on twitter @SyriaContext or email us at SyriaInContext@gmail.com .
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