Coronavirus update in northeast Syria: 27 cases confirmed, total 171

QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The Health Board of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) announced on Thursday 27 new infections with coronavirus and one death in the region.  

The Health Board said in a statement that among the 27 cases, 4 cases were in the Shahba region in Aleppo northern countryside where IDPs from Afrin are living.  

The death case was a 70-year-old man in Jazira region, the statement said.

So far, the total number of the coronavirus infections in AANES areas reaches to 171 cases, including 8 deaths and ten recoveries.

Last week, the Autonomous Administration imposed a full curfew on the region for two weeks as a measure to impede the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Syrian Kurdish-led authorities have already taken precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic to their region, where the health system has been severely damaged and overtaxed by almost a decade of civil war.

Despite such measures, the very real danger of a local coronavirus outbreak still exists and is exacerbated by the lax restrictions in regime-held territories that border the northeast, especially at checkpoints on the outskirts of Deir Ezzor, Raqqa, and Manbij provinces.

(Editing by Hisham Arafat and Juan Mustafa)