War-torn countries face daunting task in response to outbreak

DAMASCUS－The battle against the novel coronavirus seems to be harder for war-torn countries or less developing ones as their health systems are more fragile and resources to fight the outbreak are limited.

Syria's Health Minister Nizar Yazigi said on Sunday that the country had recorded "its first case of the coronavirus in a person coming from abroad", without specifying the country.

Yazigi urged citizens to exercise caution and stay at home, and commit to the procedures for protection against the coronavirus.

After nine years of a war that has ravaged the country's infrastructure, fears are high that a COVID-19 outbreak in the country would have devastating consequences.

A World Health Organization spokesman earlier this month warned that Syria's "fragile health systems may not have the capacity to detect and respond" to what is now a pandemic.

The government has increasingly taken measures to prevent the spread of the deadly virus over the past week, including ordering schools, universities, restaurants, cinemas and events halls to close as well as suspending prayer gatherings.

And it has also stopped work or downsized staff in government institutions, and transport between provinces was to come to a halt from Tuesday. Parliamentary polls scheduled for next month were also postponed until further notice.

Meanwhile, medics in the opposition-held northwest also fear that the coronavirus could spread quickly in crowded camps for tens of thousands of displaced Syrians.

In the Gaza Strip, another region wracked by conflict, residents have been on alert as the Gaza Health Ministry reported on Sunday the first two cases of COVID-19 in the blockaded coastal enclave.

The health ministry said the two－returnees who had come from Pakistan－had been isolated at a field hospital upon arrival and did not mingle with others in quarantine.

Abdelnasser Soboh, the director of the WHO's Gaza office, said the territory has very limited ventilators in hospitals, which could "pose a challenge to the health care system".

Separately, in an urgent move, a specialized team of the WHO arrived in the Gaza Strip, through the Erez checkpoint, a Palestinian security source said on condition of anonymity. Qatar also announced $150 million in aid to the Gaza Strip over a period of six months.

In Iran, President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that the United States should lift its sanctions if Washington wants to help Iran contain the coronavirus outbreak, adding that Iran had no intention of accepting Washington's offer of humanitarian assistance.

Iran on Monday recorded 1,411 new confirmed cases and 127 new deaths, taking the total infection number to 23,049 and death toll to 1,812.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif earlier said in an interview that Iran does not have the necessary resources to serve its affected people due to US sanctions, which were imposed after the US withdrew from a nuclear deal in 2018.

In Thailand on Monday there were 122 new cases, raising the total number to 721.

In India, the number of confirmed cases rose to 421.

South Korea reported 64 new cases, taking its total to 8,961.

Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.