Agencies Warn of Disaster in Yemen over Virus

Arab World

May 22nd, 5:19am

Sanaa – Asharq Al-Awsat

Sanitary workers prepare to perform a fumigation in Aden as part of a campaign to prevent insect-borne diseases amidst the coronavirus pandemic. (AFP)

With the outbreak of the new coronavirus in Yemen, the United Nations has pulled out half of its foreign staff and transferred them to Ethiopia, fearing they may become infected given the country’s major inability to cope the with pandemic and Iran-backed Houthi militias’ ongoing insistence to conceal the real figures of the cases. Victims of the virus have been estimated in the hundreds. Local UN agency workers said 98 foreign employees out of 158 have been transferred to Addis Ababa. Some 60 foreigners remain. The sources said those who have left Sanaa are unlikely to return any time soon. The UN justified its decision to evacuate its Sanaa staff to the growing risk that they will be exposed to the virus, adding that local hospitals are not equipped to handle the outbreak. Officially, Yemen has reported 182 cases and 31 deaths, but medical sources in Sanaa said some 200 people have died from the disease. The World Health Organization has estimated some 40,000 Yemenis may die from coronavirus even if the necessary measures are taken. In the interim capital, Aden, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said the dedicated COVID-19 center that serves the entire south admitted 173 patients from April 30 to May 17, at least 68 of whom died, suggesting “a wider catastrophe unfolding in the city”. “What we are seeing in our treatment center is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the number of people infected and dying in the city,” said Caroline Seguin, MSF’s operations manager for Yemen. “People are coming to us too late to save, and we know that many more people are not coming at all: they are just dying at home. It is a heart-breaking situation.” “The United Nations and donor states need to do more and do it urgently, not just for Aden but for the whole of Yemen” said Seguin. “Money to pay healthcare workers must be found and supplies of the personal protective equipment necessary to keep them safe need to be organized. The country also badly needs more oxygen concentrators to help sick patients breathe. The local authorities need to do all they can to facilitate the work of international organizations like MSF who are working with them to respond to the virus, ensuring the entry of medical supplies and international staff to reinforce teams on the ground.” MSF’s statement said inadequate testing capacity made it hard to pin down exact numbers but dying patients “clearly have the symptoms of COVID-19”. It said endemic diseases like malaria and dengue “never produced so many deaths in such a short amount of time” in Yemen. The WHO said last week the virus was circulating undetected in Yemen, increasing the likelihood of a devastating outbreak among a malnourished population that would overwhelm a shattered health system with limited testing capacity. Half of Yemen’s health facilities are dysfunctional and 18% of the country’s 333 districts have no doctors. Water and sanitation systems have collapsed. Many families can barely afford one meal a day. “The high level of mortality we are seeing amongst our patients is equivalent to those of intensive care units in Europe, but the people we see dying are much younger than in France or Italy: mostly men between 40 and 60 years old,” said Seguin of MSF. “Hospitals have had to close elsewhere in the city or are refusing certain types of patients because staff members lack the personal protective equipment to keep them safe, which leaves us very concerned about the knock-on effects of this outbreak on other types of illnesses,” she said.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2296501/agencies-warn-disaster-yemen-over-virus