Covid-19 in opposition-held northwest syria

Introduction

Since the Government of Syria (GoS) confirmed the country's first case of COVID-19 on 22 March, both international and domestic actors have warned of the risk of the virus reaching the opposition-controlled areas in northwest Syria. The UN stated on 27 March that the spread of COVID-19 in IDP camps could lead to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. UNOCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke has also stated that the UN expresses concern over the potential threat of COVID-19 to millions of people throughout Syria. Laerke went on to highlight that the most vulnerable were more than 900,000 displaced civilians in Syria’s Idleb governorate, adding that IDPs across camps in the northwest lack food and clean water. The World Health Organization (WHO) said that COVID-19 is heading towards a war-torn region like a “slow-moving tsunami” potentially killing tens of thousands of people. Additionally, local NGOs and activist groups including Syria Solidarity, Kesh Malek, and the Syrian Network for Human Rights, issued a joint statement appealing to the UN and the WHO to urgently prepare the under-resourced healthcare facilities in northwest Syria to respond to the threat of COVID-19.

HAT’s report, ‘COVID-19 Precautionary Measures in Syria’, concluded that opposition-held areas in Idleb and the western countryside of Aleppo are the least equipped to combat the spread of COVID-19 in Syria. The Syrian Salvation Government (SSG), the governing authority in the area, has not taken the lead in enforcing preventative measures. In the absence of a government’s role, several actors have launched individual initiatives to prevent the spread of the virus – these include the Syrian Interim Government's Health Directorate (SIGHD), the Syrian Civil Defense, the North Free Doctors Syndicate, the Assistance Coordination Unit (ACU), and many local authorities and international humanitarian organizations.

Measures were limited to conducting sterilization campaigns on educational facilities and densely populated residential areas in northwest Syria, mandating the closure of educational facilities, and launching a COVID-19 awareness campaign to educate civilians across IDP camps and residential areas. This report demonstrates the fragility of the situation in northwest Syria and the obstacles to implementing the precautionary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the area. The research methodology for this paper includes primary and secondary data, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. This includes available data from UN agencies, international organizations, Syrian medical organizations, and local health directorates. The Humanitarian Access Team (HAT) conducted key informant interviews (KIIs) with local stakeholders including medical professionals, representatives of the Syrian Interim Government (SIG), and representatives of the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG). The team ensured a wide variety of informant profiles with respect to institutional affiliation and informant identity in order to include varying perspectives and better triangulate information.