The number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the autonomous region of North and East Syria increased to 182. The latest figures were announced by Ciwan Mistefa, the co-chair of the Health Committee of the Autonomous Administration, who said that 11 more cases have been detected; 6 in Cizire Region, 3 in Kobane and 2 in Shehba region.

On the other hand, 7 infected patients have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 17. On the other hand, 10 people have died of COVID-19 in the region so far.

The number of corona cases in northern and eastern Syria is thus officially 182, but the number of unreported cases is likely to be much higher due to a lack of testing capacity. Especially the densely populated refugee camps are a great danger for the inhabitants. International support is urgently needed. The Kurdish Red Crescent (Heyva Sor a Kurd) and the human rights organization of Afrin made an urgent appeal for support to the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the International Red Cross on Monday.

Thanks to early restrictions, the autonomous regions initially had the pandemic well under control and were able to seal themselves off successfully for months with largely closed borders and strict quarantine conditions. In the meantime, the number of infections is rising rapidly. The situation threatens to spiral out of control, especially in regions bordering on regime areas. The situation could be particularly dramatic in the canton of Shehba, where hundreds of thousands of refugees from Afrin have been living in tent cities and emergency shelters since 2018.