Region’s coronavirus death toll climbs over 50,000, Iran worst hit

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates–The confirmed death toll from the coronavirus in the Middle East passed 50,000 on Thursday as the pandemic continues.

Those numbers still may be an under-count, though, as testing in war-torn nations like Libya and Yemen remains extremely limited. The top UN official for Libya on Wednesday warned the coronavirus pandemic in the war-ravaged country appears to be “spiraling out of control.” Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who hold parts of the nation, have refused to release virus statistics.

The hardest-hit nation remains Iran, which saw the region’s first major outbreak. Over 21,900 people have died there from the virus, with over 380,000 confirmed cases and 328,000 recoveries.

Israel just recorded a record-high 3,000 new cases in a day as the country’s coronavirus czar is set to submit a list of more detailed recommended restrictions in places where infection rates have been highest. Israel earned praise for its early handling of the virus crisis by imposing tight movement restrictions. But since reopening the economy in May, new cases have spiked to record levels and the government has been blamed for mismanaging the resurgence.

The United Arab Emirates, which has embarked on a mass testing campaign, saw its highest daily confirmed new case count in over three months. That came as schools reopened in the country and Dubai offered itself as a tourist destination.

The confirmed number of infections in war-torn countries Syria and Libya was nearly a combined 18,000, with their death tolls standing at 120 and 254 respectively.

Figures in the two countries are unreliable as testing remains extremely limited.

Top UN official for Libya Stephanie Williams said the misery of the Libyan people “is further compounded by the debilitating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.” She said the number of confirmed coronavirus cases “has more than doubled in the last two weeks.”

“Exponential increases are a worrying trend, with community transmission now reported in some of Libya’s main cities, including Tripoli and Sebha,” she said.

“The true scale of the pandemic in Libya is likely to be much higher,” she added, because of testing shortages and inadequate health care facilities, while dealing with virus cases is beset by an “extreme shortage of medical supplies and workers.”

In Syria, the health situation is no better, with Human Rights Watch warning that the country’s authorities are failing to protect frontline health workers in government-held territory.

Doctors, aid workers and civilians, including in government-held Syria, reported the country is overwhelmed, with hospitals beyond capacity, health workers facing serious shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and with many of their colleagues and relatives dying after suffering from COVID-19 symptoms.

The health ministry said that 76 health workers had tested positive for the virus as of August 21. A total of 2,830 confirmed cases and 116 related deaths were reported by September 1.

However, evidence suggests that the numbers across the country could be significantly higher.

“It is bewildering that as the obituaries for doctors and nurses responding to the Covid-19 pandemic pile up, official numbers tell a story at odds with the reality on the ground,” said Sara Kayyali, a Syria researcher at Human Rights Watch.

“The Syrian government has already engaged in crimes against humanity against its own people, so its lack of concern for the health of its front-line workers during a global pandemic is sadly no surprise.”

Independent outlet Syria-in-Context estimated that there have been at least 85,000 COVID-19 cases in the Damascus region alone.

It based its conclusions on obituaries posted online from July 29 to August 1, satellite imagery of cemeteries and interviews with doctors, which it extrapolated from using a model created by Imperial College London’s model for COVID-19 transmission.

The United Nations has indicated that it is unable to confirm or verify reports of additional numbers of cases.

Nurses, doctors and aid workers who work in hospitals or support their operation from outside Syria said that major hospitals that are prepared to deal with COVID-19 cases, such as al-Assad University Hospital, have exceeded their capacity, and other hospitals do not have the necessary infrastructure, citing a lack of availability of oxygen canisters, ventilators, and beds.

Front-line workers said they do not have the necessary protective equipment, training or protocols to treat complications from COVID-19.

The deaths that are reported in official government obituaries are primarily members of the elite, such as heads of hospitals or former teaching doctors, doctors said.

Doctors estimated that the number of deaths among front-line doctors and nurses is most likely much higher due to the failure to account for health workers in rural areas, and their own knowledge of doctors and nurses who have died.

While the exact causes of underreporting remain difficult to discern, factors such as government restrictions on informing aid workers of test results early on and a lack of widespread testing, despite pressure by healthcare organisations to expand testing capacities, are believed to play a role.

Human Rights Watch has previously documented authorities’ refusal to collect and test COVID-19 samples in north-east Syria.