The planned parliamentary elections in Syria have been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to official information, there are no infections in Syria yet, SOHR, however, reports 113 cases. There are no testing possibilities in NE Syria.
Syria has postponed the parliamentary elections planned for April by a good five weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Syrian presidential office announced that the election would not take place on April 13, but only on May 20. It is the third ballot since the beginning of the Syrian war nine years ago.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), 113 infections with the coronavirus have so far occurred in the areas controlled by the Syrian regime. According to official figures, there are no cases at all in Syria. The five neighbouring countries Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey have already recorded cases of infection.
In the autonomous region of North and East Syria there are no testing facilities. The only equipment needed to evaluate samples was in Serêkaniyê (Ras al-Ain) and has not been operational since the Turkish occupation last October.
According to the Rojava Information Center (RIC), samples must be sent to Damascus and forwarded to the World Health Organization (WHO). It takes at least one week for the samples to be evaluated. So far, four test results are available, which have turned out negative.
