COVID-19 pandemic in Syria

Background

Timeline

March 2020

• A ministerial team approved a series of precautionary steps, including the suspension of universities, schools, and institutes as of 14 March.
• The Syrian General Sports Federation announced that all sports activities will be suspended Starting 14 March.

• The Ministry of Education announced suspension of lessons and studying in public and private schools and as of Saturday 14 March until Thursday, 2 April.
• The Ministry of Higher Education and scientific Research decided to postpone all exams in public and private universities, including open education system examinations, the national exam and language tests for master's degree from Saturday until 2 April.
• The Ministry of Endowments announced suspension of all schools, secondary, the religious institutes, University of the Levant for Islamic Science, Dar Al Aman Foundation for Orphans Care and Sons of martyrs which are affiliated to the ministry from Saturday until 2 April.
• The Pakistani Chief Minister of Sindh province alleged that nationals returning from the Middle East had imported the disease. Out of 14 confirmed cases in Sindh province, eight had a travel history that included Syria. The day earlier, World Health Organization said that all Pakistani cases were imported, but without mentioning the exact origin of those. The Syrian government denied any cases of COVID-19 in the country. Nevertheless, authorities delayed upcoming parliamentary elections, shut down schools, and canceled most public events to prevent any spread of the coronavirus.
• The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria canceled all gatherings, limited entry to the region to residents only on Tuesdays of each week and closed all schools, universities and educational institutes until further notice.

• Prime Minister Imad Khamis issued a circular asking ministers to take the necessary decisions to suspend work in the ministries and their affiliated entities starting form the next day until further notice as long as the suspension does not constitute an obstacle to efforts to face the risks of the spread of the Coronavirus. The circular reduces the number of workers in essential institutions to the minimum possible, and comes into effect starting Sunday, 22 March 2020 until further notice. Khamis underlined that the suspension of work does not include productive facilities and institutions. The Prime Minister also issued another circular requiring governors to take the necessary measures to close markets and suspend all commercial, service, cultural and social activities. The circular excluded centers of selling foodstuffs, pharmacies and private health centers with an emphasis on the necessity for the exempted parties to abide by measures and procedures of the public health and safety. The objective of both circulars is to minimize the movement of citizens in markets and elsewhere.
• General Command of the Syrian Army and Armed Forces announced suspension of the recruitment measures for the military service. The army command also suspended legal procedures related to summoning the charged citizens or legally prosecuting those who do not attend because of the current health conditions.
• The Ministry Interior decided to stop the work of renewing and granting passports, travel documents, all kinds of residences, driving licenses and criminal record documents starting Monday, 23 March 2020 until further notice.

• The Cabinet suspended all forms of mass public and private transportation within provinces as of 8 PM on Monday and between provinces as of 8 PM on Tuesday, with the stipulation that ministries, union, and private production establishments provide transportation for their workers. The Cabinet also adopted the plan of the Health Ministry and other ministries for the next six months to confront the Coronavirus, which involves expanding quarantine and isolation centers, forming 19 emergency teams for epidemical detection, and setting up addition labs for diagnosing the virus in Damascus, Lattakia, and Aleppo in cooperation with the World Health Organization. In addition, the Cabinet allowed private sector establishments that produce sanitizers and detergents to import the necessary materials for making sanitizers and rubbing alcohol for 15 days. The Cabinet affirmed that stocks of consumer products are available and sufficient for the coming months, requesting that the Internal Trade and Consumer Protection Ministry send cars to distribute bread in city centers and rural areas.
• The Health Minister of Syria reported the first case of COVID-19 in Syria.

• The government declared that commuting of citizens between province centers and all other urban and rural areas is disallowed at all times excluding those with clearance, starting Sunday March 29 at 2 p.m. local time.
• A 53-year-old man was admitted to hospital in the government-held part of Qamishli in northeast Syria. He was tested for coronavirus and the test was sent to Damascus for analysis.

• The Ministry of Health reported that a woman died just after she arrived in hospital, and later she tested positive for the Coronavirus.
• The Ministry of Health announced 4 new cases were registered

April 2020

• The Ministry of Health announced 6 new cases.
• The Ministry of Health announced that a lockdown was imposed on Al-Sayeda Zainab in Rif Dimashq Governorate to preserve public health and safety.
• The previously-mentioned man in Qamishli dies of coronavirus the same day his test results come back positive. The man had no travel history outside the country.

• The Ministry of Health announced 5 new cases.
• The Ministry of Health said in a statement that the government decided to lift lockdown on Al-Sayeda Zainab area after completing coronavirus tests for people in contact with infected patients and confirmed cases.
• Rojava announced its first case. But the Syrian government didn't report it.

• The Ministry of Health announced 3 recoveries and one new case.
• The Ministry of Health announced the end of the 25-day lockdown on Mneen town in northern Rif Dimashq Governorate after verifying that there were no infected or suspected cases of COVID-19 in the town.

May 2020

• The Ministry of Health said that the last 6 COVID-19 cases that have been registered in Syria were among people who had arrived from abroad, and that no cases among non-quarantined residents in the country have been registered since the beginning of May.
• The Ministry of Health announced one new case, and said that the patient was one of the already quarantined arrivals from the UAE.

• The Ministry of Health said that no local cases of COVID-19 have been registered in Syria for 20 days, and that the registered cases during this period were for Syrians coming from abroad. The Ministry also pointed out to the shortage of test kits as a result of sanctions imposed on Syria.
• Some local newspapers and online news networks reported that both the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Health started investigating what they called "Irresponsible acts" of some quarantined people in Damascus after they threw their meals from the balconies in an act of protest. Associate Director of Health in Damascus, Ahmad Habbas, posted a photo of the thrown food on his Facebook account and said that some quarantined people in a Damascus quarantine facility threw the meals to 'pressure to discharge them before the set time'.

• The Ministry of Health announced one recovery.
• The Ministry of Health announced one death and one new case among the Syrian arrivals from Kuwait.

• The Ministry of Health announced 11 new cases among Syrian arrivals from Kuwait.
• The Syrian Minister of Health, Nizar Yazigi, Commented on rumors related to closing down Tartus seaport after suspecting that a Russian person there was infected with the Coronavirus, clarifying that 'the situation is different from how it is being portrayed'. The Minister said that the Russian person at the port was tested for COVID-19, and, noting that the test has a 70% accuracy.

• The Ministry of Health announced 4 recoveries.
• The Ministry of Health announced 16 new cases among Syrian arrivals from outside the country; 6 from The UAE, 4 from Kuwait, 4 from Russia, and 2 from Sudan.
• The Ministry of Health said that the Russian person in Tartus seaport was tested again and the results came back negative this time.

• The Ministry of Health announced 20 new cases among Syrian arrivals from outside the country; 15 from Kuwait, 3 from Sudan, one from Russia, and one from The UAE.
• The government decided that the curfew and restriction of movement among provinces will be lifted as of the next day. But noted that there is still a possibility of a full curfew in the future depending on developments related to the pandemic.

• The Ministry of Health announced 3 recoveries.
• The Ministry of Health announced the death of a 74-year-old COVID-19 patient and said that the patient also had a liver tumor.

  June 2020

• The Ministry of Health announced one case in As-Suwayda and said that the patient had a contact with another person who was infected, and the new patient is quarantined.
• As-Suwayda's directorate of Health said that it also reported a second case of COVID-19 of a person coming from abroad and was discharged from the quarantine center after being tested negative. but during their mandatory quarantine at home afterwards, the person started showing symptoms and was tested positive after another test was done. The directorate also said that the person is back in quarantine and is receiving medical treatment, and people who the person had interacted with were tested and were put in quarantine.

• The Ministry of Health announced one death. The Ministry said that the patient suffered from asthma and had undergone an open heart surgery in the past.
• The Ministry of Health announced 4 recoveries.
• changed the number of cases in Damascus from 86 to 80, and In Latakia from 0 to 1, and in Homs from 0 to 5. With the total number of cases remaining 123. Which indicates that the government was reporting false data before this update.

• The Ministry of Health announced 5 recoveries.
• The Ministry of Health announced one new case, and said that the patient works as a driver on the Syria-Jordan border road.

• The Ministry of Health announced 16 new cases of Covid-19 in Ras al-Ma'ara town in Rif Dimashq Governorate, and said that the source of their infection is that they had a close contact with the truck driver who worked on the Syria-Jordan border road that was tested positive on 4 June. Later the same day, the Ministry announced 3 other new cases, also in Ras al-Ma'ara.

• The Ministry of Health said that a lockdown was imposed on Ras al-Ma’ara town to prevent the outbreak of the virus and to maintain the public health and safety.

• The Ministry of Health stated that among the recoveries of 13 June was the truck driver from Ras al-Ma'ara and that he was discharged from Al-Zabadani hospital after he was tested negative twice. The Ministry also said that among the new cases of 13 June was a person who lives in kashkoul neighborhood in Damascus.

• The Ministry of Health announced 3 recoveries.
• The Ministry of Health announced 7 cases among people who had been in contact with the infected persons in Ras al-Ma'ara town.
• A health official in Damascus directorate of health said that if the number of cases continues to grow, imposing a partial or full curfew is possible with the possibility of having a second wave of COVID-19 cases because of the unhealthy actions by some people who are ignoring the public health guidelines. He also said that an economic damage is expected in case of a travel ban between cities and villages and that would affect both the citizens and the government.

• The Minister of Health said during an interview that the truck driver from Ras al-Ma'ara who tested positive and caused an outbreak in the town attended a wedding and that's how the outbreak started there.

• The Ministry of Health announced 11 new cases; 10 of people who had contact with infected persons in Jdaydat al-Fadl in Quneitra Governorate, and one of a person who arrived from Lebanon. The Ministry also announced 5 recoveries.
• The Ministry of Health said that a lockdown was imposed on Jdeidet al-Fadl town in Quneitra Governorate after registering a number of COVID-19 cases in it, in order to prevent an outbreak of the virus and to preserve public health and safety.

• The Ministry of Health announced 3 recoveries. Later the same day, 8 other recoveries were announced.
• The Ministry of Health announced 12 new cases among the 123 Syrian students that arrived from Lebanon for their exams. The ministry stated that they were in quarantine since they arrived to the country.

• The Ministry of Health announced 11 new cases of people who had contact with known confirmed cases. And 2 recoveries.
• Local news networks reported that a patient escaped The National Hospital in Hama after being tested positive for COVID-19 and went to Damascus where authorities tracked the person and put him in quarantine in Rif Dimashq. But the official state.media networks never reported that. Health officials later said that the person didn't escape, but instead he thought that the doctors were done with him and that he was free to go after taking samples for the test, but when authorities tried to reach him they found out that he went to Damascus so he was quarantined there. Noting that his results didn't actually come back yet.

• The Ministry of Health announced 12 new cases of people who had contact with known confirmed cases.
• The Ministry of Health announced 6 recoveries.
• The Ministry of Health announced one death of a person who went to hospital because they had respiratory problems and later tested positive for COVID-19.

July 2020

• The Ministry of Health announced 14 new cases of people who had contact with known confirmed cases and one death.
• Local news networks said that the death reported on 6 July is of a resident of one of the neighborhoods in Damascus who visited Al-Assad university hospital multiple times after experiencing cough and fever, and was admitted to the hospital a week ago and died a few days after. And later their COVID-19 test results came back positive.
• The Syrian Arab Red Crescent said that it immediately took the necessary health procedures as one of its volunteers in Daraa was tested positive for COVID-19. And that all activities, except for first aid, were reduced for the safety of the volunteers and everyone else.

• Health officials in Al-Nour hospital in Jableh said that after a man in his 60s went into the hospital after experiencing digestive problems and COVID-19 symptoms. The man was tested positive and was moved to Al-heffa hospital. And after testing 25 people of the medical staff thad contacted with the patient it appeared that one nurse tested positive, and he was also to the same hospital.
• Aleppo university announced that one of its students in the faculty of economics test positive for COVID-19.
• Ministry of Justice announced that two Judges tested positive for COVID-19 in Damascus, the ministry said that there were also two suspected cases that showed symptoms and were put in quarantine.

• The Ministry of Health announced 26 new cases. '
• The Ministry of Health announced 10 recoveries and 4 deaths.

Resources and facilities

Testing laboratories

Quarantine centers

Treatment centers

Confirmed cases

Cases by source of the virus">Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2">the virus

Cases by sex and age group

Confirmed cases not included in the official count

• A 53-year-old male resident of Syria's Kurdish-administered northeast died in early April of COVID-19, according to an email from the World Health Organization obtained by The Associated Press on 17 April. The death in the city of Qamishli was not reported by the Syrian government, and is the first to be traced back to the northeast, a region that has restricted access to outside assistance and where testing capabilities are unavailable.

• On 28 April, an image of a document claimed to be from Hasaka's official Directorate of Agriculture circulated in the internet. In the document, the director of agriculture is supposedly informing Hasaka's governor that the results of a COVID-19 test for an employee in the directorate came positive. And that the employee's job was accounting and handing employees their monthly salaries, and that he had contact with many people and co-workers at a time when he was believed to have the virus.

• On 29 April, an article published by RT mentioned that the city of Al-Hasakah is going to be 'closed' in an order by the governorate's council after previously confirming two COVID-19 cases in the city, not specifying if those include the infected accounting employee. But the Syrian government's official COVID-19 cases count still reported the entire governorate of Hasaka as Coronavirus-free with zero cases.
• A doctor in his 30s working at Bab al-Hawa hospital in Idlib near the Turkish border was tested positive on 9 July after he experienced symptoms and asked to be tested. But the Syrian government didn't report the case because it's in a rebel-held territory. Two more cases were registered in rebel-held Idlib the next day. later, the number of cases reached 4.
• News networks reported that Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria reported what was called its "first" four cases; three in Qamishli and one Al-Hasakah.

  Quarantine and isolation