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Mark Lowcock told the Security Council on Wednesday that it will not be possible to understand the scope of the coronavirus outbreak in Syria until laboratory tests are intensified.
‘Generalized’ transmission
“We know that community transmission is widespread, as nearly 90 percent of newly confirmed cases cannot be traced to a known source,” he said, adding that rates of COVID-19 infection among healthcare workers also are increasing.
Presenting to the council his monthly update on the humanitarian crisis in Syria, he said shortages of health personnel and medical supplies, combined with temporary closures, are putting further pressure on Syria’s decimated health system.
Citing an analysis from his Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), he said that in low-income countries, interruptions in health care resulting from the pandemic could trigger more deaths from preventable diseases than from COVID-19 itself.
Economic crisis
Lowcock also emphasized the economic impact of the pandemic in Syria, citing recent data showing that 45 percent of businesses have temporarily closed, 25 percent operating at reduced levels and 15 percent permanently closed.
In northwestern Syria, where 45 percent of households depend on labor for their income, more than 70 percent of households reported that their income is not enough to meet their needs, an increase of 10 percent. since January, he said.
On the issue of humanitarian access, the subject of profound differences among Council members, he said the United Nations is adjusting its cross-border operations to the northwest to meet the needs of the millions of people who depend on aid shipments to survive.
Unique aid crossing
All UN humanitarian convoys, including those going to Aleppo, now travel from Turkey to Syria via Bab al-Hawa after the Council, by resolution 2533 (2020), closed a second border crossing with more access straight northeast.
Lowcock said the distribution of medical supplies from the last World Health Organization (WHO) overland shipment that arrived in northeast Syria in July is still ongoing. Beneficiaries so far include 17 hospitals, including 12 that were previously supplied through the cross-border mechanism.
On “cross” humanitarian deliveries within Syria, he called on all parties to redouble their efforts to finalize the details for extending aid to the northwest, an area that includes Aleppo.
