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Syria records first coronavirus fatality in Idlib 

August 20, 2020 at 12:28 pm

Temperature checks of Syrians for measures taken against the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in Idlib, Syria on 24 March 2020 [Muhammed Said/Anadolu Agency]

Local authorities in Syria’s northwestern city of Idlib yesterday announced the first coronavirus fatality.

“Today, we’ve recorded the first death from coronavirus of an 80-year-old woman in Idlib,” Syrian Interim Government (SIG)’s health minister, Maram Al-Sheikh, told reporters, adding that the victim had been suffering from “chronic kidney failure.”

Al-Sheikh pointed out that the elderly lady was put on a ventilator but her polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test was positive.

As of Wednesday, there were a total of 54 infected people across all opposition-controlled areas, 46 of whom have recovered, according to official data.

The virus has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

READ: Turkey sends military reinforcements into Syria’s Idlib

Coronavirus spreading in the Middle East - Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]

Coronavirus spreading in the Middle East – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]