Syria, Soaring Covid-19 cases mount pressure on hospitals

Syria has been experiencing a soaring spike in Covid-19 cases over recent weeks, with health facilities unable to cope with the mounting pressure.

Health officials told AFP on Friday that health infrastructure is insufficient in some of the areas hard-hit by the country’s decade of conflict, while basic medical supplies and vaccine doses are in short supply.

Areas in the north that still escape government control seem to be the most affected by the latest wave to hit Syria, AFP reports.

In the Idlib region, daily infections recorded have been spiking sharply, often topping 1,000 a day in an area where around half of the residents were displaced by conflict.

“From August to September the confirmed number of coronavirus cases in northwest Syria jumped by 144 percent to 71,715 as of 28 September with 1,151 deaths,” NGO Save the Children told AFP.

The charity said that only a dozen beds remain in intensive care units for the entire region, and called for emergency assistance to avert a bigger disaster.

“One death from coronavirus is one too many, but to hear that a baby and a 17-year-old have also been claimed is devastating,” the NGO’s Syria response director Sonia Khush told AFP.

“The world must not look away,” she said.