After announcing first death in Qamishli, Autonomous Administration holds WHO responsible for coronavirus outbreak in its areas

The Autonomous Administration / The World Health Organization

North-Press Agency 

 

On Friday, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria held the World Health Organization (WHO) responsible for the outbreak of coronavirus in its areas after the WHO revealed the death of a person infected with coronavirus on April 2nd in the National Hospital in Qamishli, which is under the control of the Syrian government.

 

This came in a statement issued today by the Health Board of the Autonomous Administration, in which it held the WHO responsible of coronavirus in its areas, accusing WHO of “hiding a suspicious case without telling the Autonomous Administration, which is responsible for managing these areas.” 

 

The statement added that, WHO did not inform the Health Board of the Autonomous Administration of “the sensitive and serious incident” despite its knowledge that the Syrian government does not cooperate with the Autonomous Administration, but rather it sends the arrivals from Damascus through Qamishli Airport to the Administration areas without going through medical checkpoints.  

 

The Health Board of the Autonomous Administration confirmed that the Syrian authorities are hiding the truth that there are numbers of infected people in their controlled areas within the cities of Hasakah and Qamishli, “which endangers the lives of the citizens in northeastern Syria.”

 

The statement noted to the failure of the WHO in supporting the health sector in northeastern Syria, especially with regards to the supplies necessary to cope with coronavirus. 

 

The statement stated that, the WHO announced the death of a 53-year-old citizen from the city of Hasakah at the National Hospital in Qamishli on April 2nd, and it later learned that the result of the test sample which was sent to Damascus, was positive and it was included in “6 cases reported by the Syrian Ministry of Health.” 

 

On Thursday evening, a military cargo plane with about 200 civilians and military personnel on board, coming from the capital Damascus, arrived at Qamishli Airport, but only four civilians arrived at the Health Board's medical test team at the entrance of the airport, which raised doubts about the possibility that the government authorities at the airport have worked to bring people from Damascus into the city of Qamishli through back roads.