Coronavirus outbreak in northeast Syria: 5 cases confirmed in Hassakeh

Kurdish self-administration medical and security teams near Qamishli airport checkpoint checking passengers coming from Damascus to the self-administration areas. (Photo: Rojava Information Center)

HASSAKEH, Syria (North Press) – Health authority of the Kurdish-led autonomous administration in northeast Syria on Sunday announced five coronavirus cases in the country’s northeastern city of Hassakeh.

“The five cases are four men and a woman who are in quarantine and under medical care,” Dr. Juan Mustafa, the head of Health Authority in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, said in a statement.  

Local authorities last week announced new measures to prevent the potential spread of the virus, including closing border crossings, limiting travel, and prohibiting public gatherings such as weddings and other ceremonies.

Turkey has regularly cut the water supply to northeast Syria by cutting off the Alouk water station, which has been under Turkish control since Ankara’s cross border invasion of the area in October 2019.

UNICEF earlier warned that this could put at serious risk all current efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease among vulnerable displaced populations.

Furthermore, due to repeated Russian and Chinese vetoes of UN Security Council resolutions, the al-Yarubiah border crossing was closed in January, shutting down crucial humanitarian aid to millions of civilians in northeast Syria, including 40 percent of all NGO medicine supplies.

 (Reporting by Hisham Arafat)