It is not surprising that people are reluctant to talk openly about the number of corona infections in their country. In Egypt, a journalist for the British newspaper The Guardian was expelled from the country last month after citing a Canadian study suggesting that Egyptian numbers should be much higher, looking at all foreign tourists who came home with the virus.
And the Reuters news agency was fined the authorities in Iraq after medical sources were quoted as indicating that numbers in Iraq are significantly higher. Syrian journalists should also not speculate on this subject.
Little travel to countries like Syria
In Syria, the first cases of infection were only reported late last month. Remarkable, because all neighboring countries had to deal with the virus much earlier. For example, Iranian and Lebanese fighters who fought on the Syrian front came infected, as did religious pilgrims.
To date, no more than 70 tests have been conducted in Idlib province in Northern Syria. Whether the negative result of those tests really means that Corona has not yet reached the area cannot be determined with certainty.
“On the other hand, it is not surprising that a number of countries affected by conflict and crises report low numbers,” said Rick Brennan, the regional director of the World Health Organization in Cairo. “There is relatively little international travel to countries such as Libya, Syria and Yemen. Therefore, the virus is less likely to be introduced there.”
But if corona strikes there too, a big problem will arise. “These countries have a particularly vulnerable health sector and little ability to detect the virus. As a World Health Organization, we are doing everything we can to help them.”
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