ALEPPO — The Syrian people fear a sudden spike of the novel coronavirus in the areas controlled by the government of President Bashar al-Assad. With these concerns, the government had already initiated precautionary measures in anticipation of any potential outbreak.

On March 20, the government team dealing with the coronavirus in the areas controlled by the Syrian regime conducted a comprehensive evaluation and review of the precautionary measures that had been taken. The team called on Syrian citizens to adhere to the voluntary quarantine procedures; otherwise, the state would be forced to impose obligatory quarantine.

On March 23, Minister of Health in the Syrian government Dr. Nizar Yazigi announced Syria's first coronavirus infection. According to Yazigi's statement to state TV, the infected is a 20-year-old girl coming from abroad. Apparently she had no symptoms upon her arrival in Syria but was isolated anyway due to her travels, indicating that the necessary measures were taken to deal with the case. The total number of recorded cases is Syria as of March 26 are five.

This is the first official Syrian recognition of the presence of the coronavirus, and on March 23, the government stepped up procedures for the supposed response to the epidemic by carrying out campaigns to sterilize cities and villages and controlling commodity prices in Syrian markets. Yazigi inspected on March 23 a quarantine ward designated by the General Authority of the National Hospital of Hama for any possible infections with the coronavirus. So far, no new cases of infection have been announced in Syria other than that announced by the Minister of Health.