MECC Coronavirus (COVID 19) Weekly Report

SYRIA: COVID-19

Humanitarian Update No. 30

Reporting period: from 12 to 18 October 2020

          Coronavirus cases: 5077          Active cases: 3301          Recovered: 1528          Deaths: 248 [1]

Highlights

• In GoS-controlled areas of the country, (as of 18 October), the Syrian Ministry of Health (MoH) reported 5077 Laboratory-confirmed cases, 248 fatalities, and 1528 Recoveries.

• 5077 laboratory-confirmed cases have been reported by the Syrian MoH : 1572 in Damascus; 1204 in Aleppo; 539 in Homs; 510 in Rural Damascus; 475 in Lattakia; 201 in Tartous; 163 in As-Sweida; 159 in Hama; 110 in Dar’a; 87 in Quneitra 35 in Al-Hasakeh; 15 in Deir-Ez-Zor and 7 in Ar-Raqqa .

• The Syrian government has set up a temporary hospital for Covid-19 patients at a Damascus sports complex in preparation for what an official said was a possible second wave.[2]

  The facility at Al-Faiha Stadium will operate 120 beds for people requiring oxygen, but has capacity for 100 more.

• The state-run Sana news agency cited a senior health ministry official, said there had been an increase in the daily number of new cases in the past week, and noted that there could be a surge in cases this winter.

• The ministry had set up an emergency management room to coordinate the transportation and treatment of patients in government and private hospitals.

• The government is not currently expected to reimpose the lockdown measures it eased in May because Syria is facing a deep economic crisis.

• A lot of cases are still going unreported, and the actual number of Covid-19 cases is much higher," the WHO's Syria representative told Reuters news agency last week.[3]

• A senior official at a Western non-governmental organisation was also quoted as saying there had been a "major and unprecedented spike in July recent months" in Syria, during which 120 people were dying each day on average. That figure tallied with the number of burials that took place at the Najha cemetery, the designated site for Covid-19 victims in Damascus, Reuters said.

• Given that Damascus was likely to have the most robust surveillance in Syria, the findings suggested that other regions could have experienced similar or worse mortality rates, the researchers said.

• Doctors, nurses and aid workers have told Human Rights Watch that they face shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and restricted access to oxygen tanks.[4]

2020 Syria humanitarian response plan and COVID-19 response  

Funding Overview, As of 14 Oct [5]

BY SECTOR

In Million $

Lebanon: COVID-19

Humanitarian Update No. 27

Reporting period: from 13 to 19 October 2020

Coronavirus cases: 62,286          Deaths: 520          Recovered: 28,062

Highlights

• During this reporting period, Lebanon registered an average of 1,324 new cases per day.

• The corona situation is exacerbated by some pharmacies stocking medicines and refusing to sell it to the public.

• In commemoration of last year’s revolution, people gathered on the streets on the 17th of October, increasing the rate of infectivity.

Updated Measures

• The Ministry of Interior and Municipalities issued Decision No. 1252 on 10/13/2020 related to amending the schedule of villages and towns that have been closed due to the high number of Coronavirus infections in them, as the towns of Naqoura, Jal el Dib, Za'ariyah, Batroun, Roumieh, Bikfaya - Al Muhaiditha, Bint Byblos from the attached table in Resolution No. 1250 issued on 10/11/2020, and the towns of Bakhoun, Naameh and Haret Al-Naameh shall be added to the table attached to the decision.

• The Ministry of Education and Higher Education issued Decision No. 463 / M / 2020 on 10/9/2020 regarding the date of the commencement of teaching in public and private schools and high schools for the academic year 2020/2021. Public and private schools and high schools will start on 10/21/2020 for students in the ninth, second and third grades of secondary. Kindergartens, seventh and eighth primary and first secondary will start on 10/26/2020. 11/2/2020 for students in the classes of the first and second grades.

• The Ministry of Interior and Municipalities issued decision No. 1258 of 10/18/2020 related to the continued closure of some villages and towns due to the high number of Coronavirus cases in them.

 Preparedness and response

• The Minister of Public Health in the caretaker government, Hamad Hassan, announced that "the numbers of Coronavirus infections at this stage of the partial closure are not encouraging, and if this closure fails to control the increase in infections, we will raise the voice and call for a general lockdown”.

• The Minister of Public Health in the caretaker government, Dr. Hamad Hassan, claimed that any hospital that dedicates intensive care units will be given ventilators.

• The Minister of Health, Hamad Hassan, confirmed, in a press interview, that "the ministry has reserved Lebanon's share of Corona vaccines, which will be available to the Lebanese by the end of the year”. 

[1]  Microsoft power MOH, 11 OCT

[2] BBC, 14 Oct

[3]  Reuters, article/us-health-coronavirus

[4] Human Rights Watch (HRW)

[5]  OCHA, SYRIA HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE PLAN AND COVID-19 RESPONSE Funding Overview, 14 Oct