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Is COVID-19 lurking in Syria's Kurdish northeast?

Residents of the Kurdish autonomous administration in Syria are complaining about the lack of sufficient precautionary measures to stop the spread of coronavirus.
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QAMISHLI, Syria — A health official in Syria's northeastern Jazira province told Al-Monitor that no cases of coronavirus have been documented in the province. Yet residents of the largely Kurdish region, governed by an autonomous administration, are not reassured by local officials' measures to protect the province from coronavirus, which has led to the deaths of 4,000 worldwide.

A Kurdistan TV report from Qamishli, the largest Kurdish city in Syria, stated that 1% of the population in Qamishli is wearing protective masks, as pharmacies and medical equipment sales centers are running low on masks.

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