SYRIA: First two cases of coronavirus in Afrin; Passengers of an Iraqi plane quarantined

AFRIN, Syria / DAMASCUS — The first two confirmed cases of COVID-19, a novel coronavirus, have been recorded in a hospital in Afrin, a northern Syrian city currently under occupation by Turkey and the Syrian National Army (SNA), a collection of militias, some following Islamist ideologies, formed and funded by Turkey.

The two patients were transferred to Turkey for treatment, some sources reported.

“The two infected people were a woman and a man who lived in the random camps, in the bushes of northern Afrin,” a source added, indicating that the infected people were transferred to hospitals equipped especially for Syrians by the Turkish government in Hatay Province.

The sources confirmed that similar cases have been recorded in the city of Al-Bab. However, the Turkish occupation and its institutions are refraining from announcing any such cases, a decision which risks spreading the pandemic further.

On Sunday, the Syrian Ministry of Health announced that a passenger plane belonging to Al-Sham Wings Company coming from Iraq was transferred to the Quarantine Center in the Al-Duwair area in the ​​Damascus countryside due to a person with a high temperature.

After conducting the necessary coronavirus tests which came back negative for the virus. All passengers were then released from quarantine.

In related news, Turkish Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca stated via Twitter on Sunday evening that 12 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in Turkey, bringing the total number of known cases to 18 cases.