UN warns that 'tragedy beckons' in Syria from virus

The UN humanitarian chief said Wednesday that more than 40 cases of COVID-19 and at least three deaths have been reported in Syria, signalling that tragedy beckons after nine years of war that has left the country's health care system decimated.

Mark Lowcock told the UN Security Council that while the number may sound low compared to other countries, testing in Syria is very limited.

The UN special envoy for Syria, meanwhile, called for a lasting cease-fire to fighting in the country.

With millions of people displaced in crowded conditions and without adequate sanitation, he said Syria can't be expected to cope with a crisis that is challenging even the wealthiest nations.

Efforts are being made to set up isolation areas in displacement camps and health facilities in Syria, but measures aimed at containing the virus are already having side effects such as skyrocketing food prices in some areas, he said.

Lowcock said essential medical supplies and equipment must be allowed into the country, and that the Al Yarubiyah border crossing from Iraq to Syria's northeast must be reopened.

The border crossing was closed in January at Russia's insistence, and Lowcock said deliveries of medical supplies to the northeast from Damascus have not filled the gap.

Syrian Kurds established an autonomous zone in the northeast in 2012 and were US partners on the ground in fighting the Islamic State extremist group.

A Turkish offensive in October against Syrian Kurdish militants led the US to abandon its Kurdish allies, leading to strong criticism of both Washington and Ankara.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a cease-fire to all conflicts around the world on March 23 to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, and at separate Security Council meetings Wednesday on Syria's political and humanitarian situation there was widespread support for his appeal.

Geir Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria, welcomed the fact that there has been significant calm in many areas of Syria, with no all-out offensives since early March.

He said Russian-Turkish arrangements have taken hold in the northwest, the last opposition stronghold, and cease-fire arrangements between Russia, Turkey and the United States in the northeast also continue to broadly hold."