Covid-19: Virus ’spiralling out of control’ in Syria’s Idlib, warns charity | Middle East Eye
Covid-19 is “spiralling out of control” in Syria as hospitals in the country’s northwest run out of oxygen and beds for critically ill patients, a charity has warned.
Since the pandemic began, Syria has recorded at least 40,000 coronavirus cases, with more than half of reported cases in the country’s northwest, the last major stronghold for armed opposition to the government.
The pandemic has been compounded further in Idlib, with limited hospitals and medical facilities either damaged or destroyed by Syrian government bombardment.
Amjad Yamin, from Save the Children’s Syria Response team, said he believed the overcrowded camps and lack of access to water had allowed the virus to spread faster in northwest Syria in comparison to other parts of the country.
“The reason why the numbers are increasing is because there is no way of containing it in northwest Syria,” Yamin told Middle East Eye.
“And when you live under 10 years of conflict, people are more worried about the ongoing fighting than the virus and say that they need to escape the fighting.”
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▻https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/coronavirus-idlib-spiralling-out-control-warns-charity
