Is the Syrian Regime Hiding Coronavirus Cases?

Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan, Israel. Syria’s five neighboring countries have all reported coronavirus cases, but Damascus strongly maintains that no such cases have been registered on its soil. However, alarming rumors have been circulating for several weeks on social media networks and in some media, prompting the Syrian regime to publish denials very regularly through SANA, its official information agency.

“The coronavirus is (spreading) in all neighboring countries, but it hasn’t crossed the Syrian border? There’s an increase in deaths from lung infections. The national airline transports hundreds of passengers between Iran and Syria every day. And a little genius asks me what my sources are to say that the coronavirus is here!” Rafic Lutf, a pro-regime journalist, tweeted a few days ago. He claimed that 400 people died, most of them living in Latakia, Tartus and Damascus; areas controlled by the regime. After tweeting for more than 10 days on the subject, Lutf wrote on March 10 that he no longer wanted to talk about the coronavirus. “Why? Are you afraid of ending up like the doctor?” wrote back an internet user, who was apparently referring to the director of al-Moujtahid Hospital in Damascus, Dr. Samer Khodr, who might have alerted the authorities about coronavirus cases before being silenced and possibly ar-rested.

On February 29, Hani al-Lahham, Assistant Director of Communicable and Chronic diseases at the Syrian Health Ministry, told the local Melody FM radio station, that two suspected cases arrived from Iran and were transferred to the same hospital, where they were immediately quarantined and monitored on a daily basis. He didn’t specify their arrival date.

However, the Health Ministry continues to assert that no Covid-19 cases have so far been registered in Syria and claims to be taking strict preventive measures in accordance with World Health Organization (WHO) recommenda-tions. Because it’s extremely difficult to obtain information from the regime, the OLJ contacted officials at two Lebanese border crossings to inquire about any coronavirus cases among Syrian visitors.

“A busload of Syrians was sent back on March 2, because a girl was suspected of having contracted coronavirus,” told the OLJ a source within the municipali-ty of al-Qaa, a town where one of the Lebanese border crossings is located.“We immediately sterilized the premises and installed security barriers and a medi-cal post,” the source said. The Lebanese General Security at the Arida border crossing, which leads to the Tartus Governorate, said that no suspicious cases has been detected from Syria.

"The Iranian Factor"

It’s unlikely that Syria, which is facing a severe humanitarian and economic crisis after nine years of a destructive war, could have been spared, given that many Iranian soldiers are stationed there. Iran, an ally of Damascus that re-mained tightlipped about coronavirus infections in the first few weeks, is now officially showing a record of 429 deaths and more than 10.000 cases, but the figures could be much higher.

“Hiding the truth is part of the Syrian regime's mindset. Scientifically, it’s al-most certain that the virus has entered Syria, especially because flights from Iraq and Iran continue. If Damascus admits that the coronavirus is present, it would be forced to close its doors to Iranians; something it doesn’t want to do and can’t do,” said Dr. Ziad Alissa, Franco-Syrian president of "Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations" (UOSSM), who was contacted by the OLJ.

A Pharmacist in the city of Aleppo, who requested not to be identified, told the Qatari "ArabicPost that the sale of surgical masks has substantially surged. He said people are afraid of contamination because of “the large presence of Irani-an forces” in the northern city.

Dr. Alissa, on his part, warned that “the healthcare system across the country is in such a state that it will be very difficult to cope with a coronavirus epi-demic.”

The Syrian authorities are conducting an all-out information campaign and claim to be prepared in the event of contagion. According to SANA, thermal scanners were installed on March 10 at Damascus Airport, and a new emer-gency department was opened with a capacity for up to 1,200 patients on the same day at al-Moujtahid Hospital in the capital.

Dr. Chebel Khoury, the laboratory director at the Health Ministry, told SANA on March 10 that the laboratory has tested 34 suspected coronavirus cases to date and that the results have been negative. The OLJ attempted, in vain, to contact the laboratories department at the Syrian Health Ministry for com-ment.

World Health Organization spokesman Hedinn Halldorsson told AFP on March 8 that no case of Covid-19 has been reported so far in Syria, but warned that its "fragile health system may not be able to detect (an epidemic) and respond” to it.

The risk of the virus spreading is particularly worrying in Idlib, where some three million people are trapped and medical facilities are regularly targeted by the warplanes of the regime and its Russian ally.

"We have not seen any cases in Idlib," a doctor from the city's main hospital told the OLJ. "Thank God, there have been no cases here, and I hope there will be none because we are confined to a very small area due to the offensive car-ried out by the regime and our hospitals, when they still exist, have almost no means," said Miran al-Hassan, a journalist in Idlib.

"An epidemic in northwest of Syria would be terrible because millions of peo-ple there are already living in extremely precarious conditions and there are no authorities to apply healthcare measures in the event of the virus spread," con-cluded Dr. Ziad Alissa.

(This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour on the 11th of March)