Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he feared Monday that measures to ease the containment imposed to fight the new coronavirus would increase the risk of a "disaster" in the war- torn country.
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The government has so far officially registered 44 cases of contamination with the new coronavirus, including three deaths, while Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria have reported three cases in areas under their control. "Although the figures are limited, that does not mean that they will not explode suddenly in a few days, even a few weeks," warned Bashar al-Assad, addressing the government committee fighting against the virus.
"This would lead us to a real catastrophe which could overwhelm the state's medical and logistical infrastructure ," he added. Last week, the government began the gradual easing of the containment decreed in March, which has weighed heavily on the bloodless economy of the country, torn apart since March 2011 by a war that has killed more than 380,000 people and pushed millions of Syrians to exile. A curfew remains imposed on all of the territories under Damascus control, and residents are not allowed to travel from one province to another.
The markets resumed their daytime activities on April 29 and the universities could reopen their doors soon according to the government. The country is in "transition sentence , " said Bashar al-Assad. "In addition to the health challenge, the challenge we face during the coronavirus pandemic, and even before, is the economic challenge," he said.
