Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called for medical aid to reach the embattled population of northeast Syria, where supplies are running short amid an outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

“Two million people are stuck in northeast Syria without the tools to tackle outbreaks of COVID-19,” said Gerry Simpson, associate crisis and conflict director at the rights watchdog.

“As the number of infections rise, global and regional leaders should urgently act to allow lifesaving medical supplies and staff to reach those in desperate need of support.”

Under pressure from Russia, the UN Security Council in January reduced the number of border crossings authorized for delivering humanitarian aid to northern Syria from four to two, both on the Turkish frontier.

The Yarubiya entry point on the Iraqi border, used mainly to deliver UN-funded medical aid to the region, was one of those scrapped.

“The United Nations Security Council should immediately reverse its January decision to end its authorization of moving UN aid supplies from Iraq to northeast Syria,” HRW said.

It also called on Syrian authorities in Damascus to “reverse their longstanding restrictions on aid reaching Kurdish-held areas in northeast Syria and allow medical supplies and personnel into the region.”

Last year not a single medical convoy for the northeast passed through the Syrian capital, the UN says.

Syria has officially recorded 43 cases of the novel coronavirus, including three deaths in government-controlled areas and one death in Kurdish territories in the northeast.

Nine years of war have battered healthcare across Syria, but the situation in the Kurdish-held northeast is particularly critical, especially in massive displacement camps such as Al-Hol, home to tens of thousands of people.

This has raised fears of a health catastrophe in the event of a major coronavirus outbreak in a region lacking the resources to cope with the pandemic. 

By AFP 

 

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Iraq’s health ministry confirmed 81 new cases of COVID-19 and two deaths, including the first in Erbil and another in Baghdad, on Tuesday.

Over the past 24 hours, health authorities have carried out 4,648 tests across the country. A total of 78,430 tests have taken place.

Of the 1,928 infections confirmed nationwide since the outbreak began, 1,319 people have recovered and 90 have died.

As of Tuesday night, Iraq has just 519 active cases.

By Zhelwan Z. Wali 

 

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Erbil health authorities recorded the province’s first coronavirus death on Tuesday, as well as 10 new infections in the district of Soran.

A 75-year-old woman, a resident of Erbil’s Andazyaran neighborhood, tested positive for coronavirus following her death, read a statement from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) health ministry.

The ministry had earlier mistakenly said a man had died.

In a separate announcement, the ministry said 10 new cases had been confirmed in the Soran area, 108 km northeast of Erbil.

Erbil province is the epicenter of the pandemic in the Kurdistan Region, having recorded 188 infections. 

Of these, 159 people have recovered and one has died. 

Erbil city itself has 28 active cases as of Tuesday evening.

Across the Kurdistan Region as a whole, there have been 366 infections, of which 322 have recovered and five have died.

There are now just 39 active cases. 

By Zhelwan Z. Wali 

Updated 6:49 pm

 

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The latest figures from the Iranian Ministry of Health confirmed 1,112 new coronavirus cases and 71 deaths as of noon on Tuesday.

The revised toll raises the total number of cases to 92,584 across Iran, with 5,877 deaths and 72,439 recoveries.

According to the ministry, 2,983 patients with the virus are in critical condition.
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Turkey is achieving “concrete results” in the fight against COVID-19, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said late Monday as the country recorded its lowest rate of new cases in several weeks. 

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced 2,131 new cases and 95 deaths on Monday. The highest number of recoveries was also recorded, at 4,651.

"Turkey is leaving this troubled period through its motivation. It looks to the future more confidently and full of hope," Erdogan said on Twitter. 

Turkey has announced several measures to curb the spread of the pandemic, including weekend lockdowns, the closure of schools and border crossings and a ban on flights. 

Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul on Monday that there will be a lockdown on May 1, only allowing shops to be open from 9am to 2pm. Workers hold mass protests in Turkey’s Istanbul on May 1 every year to celebrate Labour Day and usually clash with security forces.

He added that the weekend lockdowns will continue until the end of Eid in late May. 

By Karwan Faidhi Dri

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Darashakran refugee camp is no longer under  lockdown after COVID-19 tests came back negative, according to camp officials. 

A resident of the camp tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday. He reportedly left the camp on April 18 but had not returned since, according to Iskandar Salih, head of the Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF) office in Erbil, which manages the camp. 

Authorities had nevertheless placed the camp under lockdown, closing shops. Refugees and IDPs had already been confined to their camps by the KRG in a bid to curb the spread of the virus there, but shops were kept open and social distancing was not imposed. 

Rabar Salih, head of Sarashakran sub-district in Erbil province told Rudaw that they tested more than 200 people in the camp, all of whom tested negative for the virus.

“All six family members of the patient and 200 other people from the camp, including security forces, were tested but the results were negative,” said Salih.

Darashakran camp is home to more than 11,000 Syrian refugees. This is the first time a resident of a refugee or IDP camp has tested positive for the virus in the Kurdistan Region. 

After almost two weeks of no new cases, Kurdistan Region authorities eased the lockdown last week. Several new cases have been recorded since, including eight on Monday.

The Region has recorded 355 COVID-19 cases so far. Of this number, four have died and 322 have recovered.

By Karwan Faidhi Dri 

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The Kurdistan Regional Government advises anyone in the Kurdistan Region displaying coronavirus symptoms to call its emergency hotline on 122. This service is available in Kurdish and Arabic 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. More information can be found on the government’s website.

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