Coronavirus crisis in North and East Syria: 22 April update

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Nine years of war, systematic targeting of health and water infrastructure by occupying Turkish forces, lack of international recognition, and the January 2020 closure of the only UN aid crossing into North and East Syria (NES) have left the autonomous region at extreme risk from coronavirus. With the World Health Organization (WHO) refusing to support it directly, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) is reliant on its own meagre resources and aid routed via the Assad government, little of which ever arrives to the north-east.

This briefing gives an updated overview of the looming coronavirus crisis in NES, before providing in-depth info on: the severing of UN aid to to NES; NES’ inability to test for coronavirus; lack of WHO assistance; Turkey’s severing of water flow into NES; and the situation in camps and prisons.

It has been updated to cover the Kurdistan Regional Government blocking aid into North and East Syria: more info on the WHO and Damascus blocking aid and vital testing info to North and East Syria; the first confirmed coronavirus death in the north-easst; and the arrival of new PCR testing machines.

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  1. Update: New COVID-19 cases announced in Idlib and NE Syria • The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights says:
    July 23, 2020 at 8:10 pm

    […] territories had its only death from COVID-19 on April 2, but the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AA) was not […]

  2. Update: 8 COVID-19 cases in Idlib • The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights says:
    July 15, 2020 at 6:43 pm

    […] territories had its only death from COVID-19 on April 2, but the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AA) was not […]

  3. Update: 14 new cases of COVID-19 in Syria • The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights says:
    July 7, 2020 at 8:11 pm

    […] territories had its only death from COVID-19 on April 2, but the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AA) was not […]

  4. Overcrowded prisons and camps in northeast Syria raise fears of COVID-19 outbreak • The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights says:
    May 5, 2020 at 7:51 pm

    […] report by the Kurdish Red Crescent provided to Syria Direct. In total, there are of 600,000 IDPs living in northeast […]

  5. Nord og Øst Syriens Corona-forsvar | Nudem.dk says:
    May 1, 2020 at 7:15 am

    […] Rojava Information Center (RIC), 2020: The Corona Virus Crisis in North and East Syria. 5. April. Update 22. April. 2020. https://rojavainformationcenter.com/2020/04/coronavirus-crisis-in-north-and-east-syria-22-april-upda… […]

  6. Rojava urgently needs COVID-19 aid | Green Left says:
    April 29, 2020 at 7:05 am

    […] Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria has only reported 43 cases, but the Rojava Information Centre (RIC) says that coronavirus is “spreading throughout Syria, from Deir-ez-Zor to […]

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