Armistice, fear of contagion and conspiracies – VG

“The virus is so dangerous that it forces the world’s great powers to fall to their knees, being God’s justice,” economist Ashwaq al-Hamdani, 30, told VG when we met in Yemen’s capital Sanaa. .

She gave up, she says, because although “deadly diseases have killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people before, she has not been so close to care.”

– Nobody cared then, because it was not the rich or powerful politicians who were beaten. Now the world’s politicians are obsessed with the crown virus, while the war virus here, for example, has killed many and received little attention.

More than 100,000 dead: now the virus arrives

The depleted city of Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, was taken over by the Houti rebels in 2014, and the following year a coalition led by the powerful and neighboring Saudi Arabia decided to try to fight the Houti with a brutal bombing campaign.

Since then, the two sides have been in a very deadly position war, which has now lasted for five years.

More than 100,000 people are believed to have been killed. More than four million people flee inland. 20 million are affected by hunger, and 14 million of them, according to the UN, need immediate humanitarian aid.

Yemen’s population now lives in one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

And now, this week, the first confirmed case of coronary infection came here.

At the same time, VG traveled through Sanaa to speak to the public about the possible double disaster that the country can now end.

Armistice because of the crown?

In practice, Yemen has been isolated from the world community for many years as a result of the war in the country.

Although the coronavirus has spread throughout the world at a dizzying rate until February, March and April, both the Houthi authorities that control the capital Sanaa and the authorities that control the southern part of the country have done everything possible to prevent the virus enter the country. Yemen.

In 2003, the virus characterized the SARS news image, now the Corona virus makes the world stop. Both date back to China and both date back to the same type of environment.

The two operational airports in the south of the country and other land crossings are closed. So are the schools and universities. Larger events have been canceled, and information campaigns about how residents should protect themselves against the virus are broadcast in the media.

This week it was also clear that the parties to the conflict must have agreed to lay down their arms to prevent a possible outbreak of the virus. Therefore, the parties are following a UN call to stop fighting actions to better face the pandemic. It is impossible to know how long the ceasefire lasts.

“Lack of critical awareness”

Although news of the coronavirus is on everyone’s lips in Yemen, the panic that has plagued most countries in the world has yet to hit the target in Yemen.

Despite the fact that almost everyone in Yemen has received warnings and advice in some way, there are still few who take the threat seriously:

Families go to food markets like before, public transport works like before. Weddings have been banned from being held at public banquets, but are still held in private.

This worries Ahmad al-Jawfi.

He is a professor of microbiology at the University of Sanaa and warns about the risk of not taking the risk of infection seriously.

Have you seen this? Washing your hands is one of the best preventive measures against the spread of the virus. But to be effective, you must wash your hands for 20 seconds.

Particularly concerned with large social gatherings and markets selling khat, the mild narcotic leaves a large portion of Yemen residents chewing daily.

“There is a great lack of critical awareness of the danger of the virus in Yemen now, so I fear a larger outbreak,” he told VG.

Al-Jawfi fears that there will not be a complete closure of the community, where the khat markets, food markets and people are located, until the infection spreads in the country, but then thinks it will be too late.

Conspiracies in the khat market

One of the khat vendors in Sanaa, Mohammed Eyeish (22), tells VG that he will find a way to sell his products, even if the authorities close the markets.

– It is my only base of income, and the same is true of many others, he says.

– But how do you protect yourself if the infection comes here?

– If it gets really bad, I still want to continue my work. There is nothing I can do, we are all in this together, and God protects us, he says.

The same is said by another khat vendor, Mahdi al-Aswad, who later refers to the conspiracy theories that are now spreading in Yemen:

He believes that the crown infection is a type of punishment from God against countries that have waged war against Yemen’s civilian population in recent years.

– Look at who has primarily affected the infection, he says, referring to the Gulf countries that have been waging war against Houti rebels in Yemen in recent years.

According to the New York Times, more than 100 members of the royal family are infected with the virus.

– They have destroyed us and God has sent them the crown as punishment, he says.

– Outbreaks will be disastrous

While several of Yemen’s inhabitants resort to conspiracies, Nayef al-Haidari, a biology professor at the University of Sanaa, is very concerned about development.

– An outbreak here will be catastrophic, as 80 percent of the population depends on emergency aid and is affected by food shortages. The worsening economic situation here, and the lack of adequate medical care, only increase the danger, he says.

Yousif al-Hadhiri, a spokesman for the Health Ministry in Sanaa, told VG that emergency aid in the form of infection control teams and ventilators is not enough. He says there are now only 500 fans in Yemen’s public and private hospitals, but at least 2,000 fans are needed.

VG contacts the World Health Organization (WHO) and they say they are now doing everything possible to help Yemen prepare for an outbreak.

“While we see what is happening with the virus globally, we must be prepared locally,” Muneerah Al Mahdli, WHO communications adviser in Yemen, told VG.

She says WHO is now intensifying preparations for a possible outbreak in the country.

“The situation is worrying,” she says.

Al Mahdli lists why Yemen is particularly vulnerable:

– 19.7 million need additional medical attention. Every fifth of the country’s 333 districts does not have a single doctor. Tens of thousands of nurses and doctors have not received wages in the past three years as a result of the war. Needs are evolving in Yemen with each passing day.

Microbiologist al-Jawafi fears what will happen in his war-torn country.

The war has ruined the healthcare system here.

– If an outbreak occurs here, we will have trouble installing 200 beds. An outbreak will really be disastrous, he says.