COVID-19 pandemic in Syria | |
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Disease | COVID-19 |
Virus strain | SARS-CoV-2 |
First outbreak | Wuhan, Hubei, China |
Arrival date | 22 March 2020 (4 years, 4 months and 4 weeks) |
Confirmed cases | • 57,743 (Government reported only) • 13,690 (needs update) (Including Interim Government and Rojava Administration reported cases) |
Active cases | 0 |
Recovered | 54,578 |
Deaths | 3,165 |
Fatality rate | 5.80% |
Territories | Аll 14 governorates (All government and non-government reports included).[1][2][3] |
Government website | |
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The COVID-19 pandemic in Syria is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease was confirmed to have reached Syria on 22 March 2020, when the first case was confirmed of a person who came from abroad.[4] Syria is considered especially vulnerable to the pandemic due to the ongoing civil war and dire humanitarian situation.[5][6]
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On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.[7][8] Many people in Syria did not have confidence in the government's transparency during the pandemic, accusing it of hiding the true numbers of cases and deaths,[9][10][11][12] especially in Damascus, Rif Dimashq, and Aleppo.[13][14][15] It has been speculated that doctors in hospitals and medical facilities were being threatened with being fired or even being arrested and detained by the government forces if they said anything about the truth of what was happening in the hospitals.[16][17] It has also been rumoured that the Syrian state has even gone so far as to suggest terminating the lives of suspected COVID-19 patients.[18] Which led to people who are experiencing some symptoms or even being sure about being infected not telling the government nor seeking governmental or even private medical care, and quarantining themselves at home as possible out of fear.[19] Analysts reasoning with these claims highlight the example of misinformation about the government's numbers is the number of cases registered in neighboring countries of people arriving from Syria, and sometimes that number in one day is greater than those reported by the Syrian government during a certain period of time.[20][21]
The Syrian government along with its allies claims that the ongoing civil war, combined with the economic situation in Syria and sanctions by western governments, limit the capacity in which adequate COVID-19 PCR tests can be conducted and prevent vital supplies for treating and managing the pandemic from being imported.[22][23] The response has been led by Health Minister Hassan al-Ghabbash since 2020.[24]
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