President wishes speedy recovery to Syrian leader

President Xi Jinping on Wednesday extended sympathies to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma al-Assad over the Syrian couple's infections with COVID-19.

In a message delivered to the Syrian leader, Xi said he and his wife Peng Liyuan wish the Syrian couple an early recovery.

The Chinese government and people firmly support the Syrian government and people in the fighting against the coronavirus, Xi said, adding he is confident that the Syrian people will prevail over the pandemic under Assad's leadership.

Syrian official SANA news agency reported on Monday that the president and his wife took the PCR test after experiencing some symptoms. The result came positive even though they are in good and stable health.

Assad and the first lady will be observing a quarantine between two to three weeks while continuing to carry out their work.

The president urged the public to observe safety measures to protect against the COVID-19 epidemic, SANA added.

This came at a time when COVID-19 cases in Syria are heading up amid warnings by medical staff that this wave is strong.

According to the World Health Organization, the overall number of infections in Syria reached 16,117 on Wednesday night Beijing time, with 1,074 deaths. However, medical staff said the number could be higher as many people get the virus without having tests.

Xinhua contributed to this story.