DAMASCUS, Syria – Syrian President Bashar Assad and his wife tested positive for the coronavirus, the president’s office said on Monday, with both showing only mild symptoms of the disease.
In a statement, Assad’s office said the first couple underwent CRP tests after experiencing minor symptoms consistent with COVID-19. He said Assad, 55, and his wife Asma, who is 10 years younger and announced his recovery from breast cancer in 2019, will continue to work from home, where they will isolate themselves for two to three weeks.
Both were “in good health and in stable condition,” he added.
Syria, which marks 10 years of war next week, recorded almost 16,000 cases of viruses in parts controlled by the country’s government, including 1,063 deaths. But the numbers are believed to be much higher, with a limited amount of PCR testing being carried out, especially in areas of northern Syria beyond government control.
The pandemic, which has severely tested even developed countries, has been a major challenge for Syria’s health sector, already drained by years of conflict.
Syria began a vaccination campaign last week amid an increasing number of cases of infection, but no details were given on the process, nor were local journalists allowed to witness the implantation. The health minister said the government purchased the vaccines from a friendly country, which he declined to disclose.
The announcement came days after international and Israeli media reports revealed that Israel paid Russia $ 1.2 million to provide the Syrian government with coronavirus vaccines. It was reportedly part of an agreement that guaranteed the release of an Israeli woman detained in Damascus. The terms of the clandestine trade-off negotiated by Moscow remained unclear. Damascus denied what happened and Russia did not comment.
Israeli funding for Syria’s vaccination efforts would be a disgrace to the Assad government, which considers Israel to be its main regional enemy.
It was not clear whether Assad, who has been in power since taking over from his late father in 2000, or any member of his family has been vaccinated.
Syria has been mired in civil war for the past 10 years since the anti-government protests that started as part of the Arab Spring uprisings turned into an insurgency in response to military repression. A decade of fighting has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and millions of homeless people.