Coronavirus was first officially announced in Syria on March 22 and on March 29, the country recorded its first Covid-19 death. At the time of writing, there were only officially 3 recorded coronavirus deaths, but the United Nations has described these initial figures as the “tip of the iceberg” and the true number is believed to be much higher.
The UN says the country is at a high risk of a major outbreak because of a fragile health system, the dire state of infrastructure, lack of sufficient equipment to detect the virus and large numbers of vulnerable people, alongside the collapse of what is left of Syria’s economy.
A CRIPPLED ECONOMY
The virus prompted President Bashar al-Assad to pause mandatory military conscription and all non-essential business, halt public transport, impose curfews and limit travel between the regions under his control. With the help of the World Health Organization, it also has set up quarantine zones in areas under government control.
However, the economically crippled regime has stopped short of giving the financial support needed to keep the economy going and provide for Syria’s poor. According to a United Nations report from 2019, 83 percent of people across both government and rebel parts of the country were already living in poverty, with at least 11 million people in need humanitarian assistance to survive and almost eight million who do not have reliable access to food. Syrians must already stand in long queues to purchase bread and other daily necessities as even subsidised bread is sometimes unavailable as Damascus runs out of flour and wheat reserves, relying on its Russian allies for emergency shipments.
Since January the value of the Syrian pound – last year trading at 500 to the dollar – has dropped off a cliff, reaching a record low of 1,360 to the dollar on the black market in late March. As a result, inflation and the cost of basic goods are soaring.
As the U.S, France, China and many other developed economies are have shown, containing a health crisis is an arduous process under the best of circumstances, and comes with remarkable economic costs. With its economy already in ruin, Syria isn’t in a position to deal with the financial fallout from the coronavirus.
A HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN PIECES
The Covid-19 pandemic risks leaving even the most advanced and well-funded healthcare systems teetering on the edge of collapse. In Syria, where there’s not much health care infrastructure left to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, the prospects are grim.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) say that since the start of the 2011 civil war, there have been at least 595 documented attacks on over 300 hospitals across the country, with 85 health facilities attacked in the north of the country just last year alone, mostly perpetrated by the Syrian government and its allies Russia and Iran. Much of that destruction has not been repaired, particularly in former opposition strongholds. According to the World Health Organization, only 64 percent of public hospitals are fully functioning and there is a considerable shortage of trained staff.
In the Idlib, the last opposition-held area in the Northwest, where fighting recently led to the largest displacement of civilians of the entire war, there are just 105 ICU beds and 30 adult ventilators for a population of 1.5 million. This specialist equipment is needed to support patients with respiratory problems like those caused by the virus but nearly all are already in use. “If we face this situation here, I think it will be endless,” Mohamed Twaish, a field coordinator for Relief Experts Association, a humanitarian organization working in Idlib province, told Vox.
It would be a disaster if the coronavirus pandemic reached Idlib, says Misty Buswell, a spokeswoman for the International Rescue Committee (IRC). "An outbreak would be devastating for thousands whose health status is already compromised due to lack of sufficient food, clean water and exposure to cold weather," she told the AFP news agency.
Medical and humanitarian aid supplies such as personal protection equipment and soap bars are being distributed across Syria, while the World Health Organization (WHO) is training medical staff and preparing laboratories to carry out coronavirus tests, with testing due to begin soon. “This is an important first step towards the Ministry of Health achieving their goal of a working laboratory in each of Syria’s 14 governorates,” said Imran Riza, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria.
Last month 39 aid organisations asked the WHO for more support, questioning the transparency of the government’s reporting on the extent of coronavirus in Syria and warning of potentially “horrific repercussions” for the population, according to the Financial Times.
SOCIAL DISTANCING NOT AN OPTION
There are six million internally displaced people in Syria who fled the frontlines and are now living in crammed displacement camps or temporary housing, making preventative measures like social distancing, lockdowns and the tracing of the virus transmission impossible.
Idlib has suffered some of the worst violence in the nine-year war, with nearly 1 million people fleeing their houses and villages in the province since the government's military offensive began in December 2019, most of them women and children. The province has also absorbed people displaced from other parts of Syria. Living conditions for millions is further deteriorating and finding refuge is a daily struggle. Often, 10 people share a small tent, sleeping, eating and living in close proximity. Some have even been forced to live in graveyards. Keeping a physical distance and washing hands regularly with soap and water are simply not possible.
"How can I tell these people to keep their distance? These people barely have access to clean water, there are few toilets for far too many people and there are no masks, no gloves, Huda Khayti, director of the Women Support and Empowerment Center Idlib and head of an awareness campaign on COVID-19 told DW.
