Corona-virus in Syria

1 Syria

The ‘SANA’ news agency reported that the Syrian authorities arrested at least 153 people for the violation of the curfew. All the arrested have left their homes during the forbidden time. Now they will appear before the Syrian judiciary. The curfew was imposed in Damascus and in the provincial centers as a counter-measure to the new coronavirus. The curfew takes place from 6 PM till 6 AM. According to the Syrian Ministry of Health — so far only 4 Syrians became infected with the new corona-virus.

2. Italy

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that the Russian military experts that arrived in Bergamo will begin to assist the Italian city on Friday. «Groups of the Russian military experts will begin to carry out the practical implementation of their tasks from 27th of March» — the Russian Defense Ministry stated on Thursday. It was added that during the meeting the Russian side confirmed that «all the servicemen and the equipment that arrived in Bergamo will be used for the emergency assistance to the city and the Italian citizens».

3 Iraq

The ‘Al-Arabia’ TV reported that on Thursday at least 2 rockets fell in the Baghdad’s green zone, in which the main government buildings and the foreign diplomatic missions are located. The rockets fell near the US Embassy. There are no reports about injuries or damage.

4 Saudi Arabia

On Thursday, the summit of the G20 leaders was held as a video conference. The G20 leaders discussed the actions needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic, and the economic impact. The spokesman for the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, stated that some footage will be demonstrated on how the videoconference is organized. The video conference of the G20 leaders will be closed to the press. The spokesman for the Russian president underlined that such format was chosen by the host country — Saudi Arabia, which presides over the G20 this year.

5 the DPRK

«The Financial Times» reports while citing their sources that the DPRK has secretly asked for the international help because of the coronavirus pandemic. According to ‘The Financial Times’ — North Korea is interested in acquiring tests on the corona-virus. According to the official date there is not a single case of an infection in the DPRK. The experts doubt the Pyongyang’s ability to identify the disease with a sufficient accuracy. One source of ‘The Financial Times’ reported that 590 people were tested for the new corona-virus in the DPRK — all of them arrived from abroad back in January. The tests showed negative results. However it was underlined that the number of tests is not enough.

6. the UN

Russia, China, Iran, Syria, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and the DPRK sent a joint letter to the UN Secretary General, Antonio Gutterrish, calling for a number of other countries to lift their one-sided sanctions that impede the efforts aimed to fight the spread of the new coronavirus. The letter was published on the official page of the Russian Permanent Mission to the UN on Twitter. Earlier, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Gutterrish, called on the G20 countries to lift the existing sanctions against other countries in order to fight the new coronavirus. Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NEWS.