Daily Times

Officials in Pakistan have blamed coronavirus cases on returnees from Syria, despite Damascus not reporting a single infection.

Chief Minister of Pakistan’s Sindh province, Syed Murad Ali Shah, alleged that nationals returning from the Middle East had imported the disease.

A World Health Organisation (WHO) report on the COVID-19 virus published yesterday also stated that all of Pakistan’s cases were “imported cases only”.

According to Shah, of 14 confirmed cases in Sindh province, eight had a travel history that included Syria.

In an interview, Shah said that “the eight cases were those that came from Doha. Before Doha, they were either coming from Iraq or Syria”.

Adding that “as soon as we found out about one of the cases, we tested all the people from the group, even those that didn’t have any symptoms. Some did not show any symptoms, but we still tested them, and they tested positive for the virus.”

Pakistan’s Health Minister Zafar Mirza said in an interview with a local news channel that some of these cases came from “Iran, Iraq, Syria and even London”.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said yesterday that coronavirus cases have been secretly recorded in several Syrian provinces, including Damascus, Tartus, Latakia and Homs.

The British-based observatory added that “doctors confirmed they were given strict orders from the authorities of the Syrian regime to remain silent and refrain from talking about the outbreak of the coronavirus”.

Syria has not announced any confirmed infections and has not released any information about the possible spread of the disease within its borders.