SOCIAL DISTANCING IS A LUXURY FOR SYRIA

Like many things, social distancing is a luxury unavailable for war torn Syria. At least 100,000 could die from the COVID-19 pandemic in northwest Syria as overcrowded camps and the decimated healthcare system make the country particularly vulnerable, medical staff on the ground have warned.[1] “In one year, we lost around 76 health facilities in northwest Syria,” Dr Munzer al-Khalil, from the Idlib Health Directorate, said in a statement released by the Syria Free campaign on the 28 March. “Donors have cut their funds and medical staff have been killed, arrested or displaced. The health sector in Idlib cannot cope with the inevitable outbreak and we fear 100,000 people could die unless we get supplies immediately,” he added.

President Bashar al-Assad’s government has instituted a lockdown in parts of the country it controls, and says it is disinfecting streets and buildings. Other areas of Syria – including the Kurdish-run northeast and the rebel-held northwest – are also trying to prepare for the pandemic, as schools are shut and curfews put into place. Aid agencies and NGOs are trying to acquire and bring in much-needed medical supplies, identifying hospitals that could isolate patients, and adjusting aid deliveries to make sure they don’t encourage public gatherings[2].

According to an article published by the The New Humanitarian on 30 March, Syria reported its first official death from COVID-19 on Sunday, as different parts of the country struggle to prepare for the spread of the virus. The state news agency said a woman who died shortly after being taken to hospital for emergency treatment had tested positive for COVID-19. It brought reported cases in Syria to 10, although widespread testing hasn’t been carried out in most of the country.

Idlib, the northwestern region home to three million people, half of whom are displaced from other parts of the country, currently counts just 105 ICU beds according to al-Khalil. “Our ventilators are always 100% occupied and we don’t have one single bed ready for a Corona case today. Camps are the perfect breeding ground for the virus and 400% overcapacity, with ten or more people sharing one tent. People don’t have enough water for drinking, let alone washing their hands,” he added.

The UN Special Envoy to Syria, Geir O. Pedersen, who earlier this week called for an immediate nationwide ceasefire to allow aid to access all parts of the country, also voiced concerns for the people held in detention centers across the country.

He appealed “on humanitarian grounds for large scale releases of detainees and abductees.” Families for Freedom, which campaigns for freedom and justice for Syria’s detainees, said that they are terrified of COVID-19 spreading into the regime’s underground detention dungeons. “The Syrian regime who took our loved ones from us has no interest in protecting detainees. The world realizes that COVID-19 can be deadly for those with compromised immune systems and the elderly but what about those who are broken down by starvation, torture, and who are left to face this virus alone,” Dr Hala al-Ghawi, from Families for Freedom, said in a statement. “At the very least, international health organizations, such as the WHO, must have regular access to detention facilities in order to provide critical sanitary measures and medical treatment to detainees,” he went on.

Meral Musli Tajroska – Psychologist, Consultant on violent extremism and radicalization, activist for gender equality.

[1] https://www.euronews.com/2020/03/28/at-least-100-000-could-die-from-covid-19-in-syria-warn-ngos

[2] https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2020/03/30/syria-coronavirus-first-death

Image Credit: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/syria-war-victims-refugees-help-1202174/