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Syria could have 2 million cases of coronavirus by Aug. 31

Analysts believe there could be up to 2 million coronavirus cases in Syria, but the authorities are no way near reimposing restrictions to curb the spread of the virus.
Syrians ride a motorbike past a mural painted as part of an awareness campaign by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) intitative, bearing instructions on protection from COVID-19 in the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli of Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on August 16, 2020, after a spike in infections in the area. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

DAMASCUS, Syria — Wesam Kanaan tried to get his colleague's father admitted to a hospital in Damascus Aug. 13, but to no avail. The 80-year-old man who had contracted the coronavirus died the following morning.

“We received a call from a colleague asking us to help her with her 80-year-old father. He was a coronavirus patient and she felt that he needed to go to a hospital immediately,” said Kanaan, a Syrian journalist and writer.

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