Kurdish administration accuses WHO of hiding first coronavirus case in northeast Syria

QAMISHLI, Syria (Kurdistan 24) – In an official statement, issued on Friday, the Kurdish-led self-administration in northeast Syria strongly criticized the World Health Organization (WHO) for concealing news of a coronavirus case for two weeks.

A 53-year-old man fell ill and was taken to a hospital in Hasaka on March 22, according to the statement from the self-administration. Five days later, on March 27, he was given a coronavirus test, which was sent to Damascus, the only location in Syria where testing was available.

On April 2, the man died, after having been transferred to a government hospital in the city of Qamishli.

According to the statement, WHO waited until Friday to announce that the man who died in the area on April 2 was found to have been infected with the coronavirus—the first case to appear in the region.  

Thus, the self-administration authorities criticized WHO, which is coordinating with Syria on its coronavirus response, of hiding the case, with the consequence that the disease has been circulating unchecked for the past two weeks.

“This dangerous and sensitive development happened in one of the areas of northeast Syria, but WHO did not notify the concerned authorities in the health sector of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria,” the statement reads.

“We, the health authority, blame the World Health Organization for the existence and the spread of coronavirus among our citizens, because it has covered up a suspected case and did not inform the autonomous administration,” the statement said.

The self-administration complained that it was “dangerous” that their health authorities had not been informed directly by WHO, when the case was first confirmed.

“The international organization knows well that the Syrian authorities do not cooperate with the autonomous administration,” its statement affirmed.

But the head of the Qamishli National Hospital, which falls under the control of the Syrian central government in Damascus, denied earlier on Friday the existence of any coronavirus cases at the hospital until now

So far, there has been no comment from WHO regarding the self-administration’s charge that it covered up news of the area’s first coronavirus case. 

Editing by Laurie Mylroie