Overcrowded prisons and camps in northeast Syria raise fears of COVID-19 outbreak - Syria Direct
There have been three cases of COVID-19 recorded in the areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AA), prompting local health officials to quarantine at least two of the three neighborhoods in which the patients lived.
Though officials were quick to act, the prospect of an outbreak in AA-controlled areas is alarming, given its large population of Internally Displaced People (IDPs), as well as prisons and camps populated by suspected members of the so-called Islamic State (IS) and their families, in addition to a smaller population of political prisoners.
There are more than 200,000 IDPs living in al-Shahba area in Aleppo province alone, all of whom are serviced by only one hospital that already suffers from shortages of beds and rooms, according to a report by the Kurdish Red Crescent provided to Syria Direct. In total, there are of 600,000 IDPs living in northeast Syria.
Al-Hol camp, located by the country’s northeastern border with Iraq, presents a similarly concerning scenario. The camp hosts around 65,000 individuals who either are family members of former IS fighters or used to live under the group’s control before it was defeated by the SDF in March 2019.
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▻https://syriadirect.org/news/overcrowded-prisons-and-camps-in-northeast-syria-raise-fears-of-covid-1