A total of 197 411 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported in Syria between 22 March 2020 and 28 May 2022, of which 102 942 (52.15%) were reported from north-west Syria (NWS), 55 890 (28.31%) from areas of Syria controlled by the government (GoS), and the remaining 38 579 (19.54%) from north-east Syria (NES). During the same period, a total of 7 217 related deaths were reported, of which 3 150 (43.65%) from GoS, 2 489 (34.49%) from NWS, and 1 578 (21.87%) from NES. The overall Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is 3.7%. The CFR was the highest in GoS (5.6%), NES (4.1%) and in NWS the CFR was 2.4%. The high CFR rate in GoS is attributed to the testing strategy for only severe and critical cases admitted to hospital for treatment.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in May across the Whole of Syria decreased by 71% (n=121) compared with previous month (n=417). A decrease was noticed in NWS by 85.9% (n=40) compared to April (n=284). Cases reported in GoS decreased by 38.8% (n=74) compared to April (n=121). Moreover, NES reported a decrease of new cases by 41.7% with 7 new cases compared with 12 cases in previous month. The decline of COVID-19 new cases was observed in all Syrian governorates. The number of reported COVID-19 cases and its percentage from the national total across all 14 governorates of Syria during the month of May is as follows: Hama 30.58% (n= 37), Idleb 19.01% (n= 23), Aleppo 17.36% (n= 21), Damascus 14.88% (n= 18), Tartous 7.44% (n= 9), Homs 3.31% (n= 4), Ar-Raqqa 2.48% (n= 3), Al-Hasakeh 1.65% (n= 2), Deir-ez-Zor 1.65% (n= 2), As-Sweida 0.83% (n= 1), Lattakia 0.83% (n= 1).

There is a sharp increase in the number of AG-RDTs COVID-19 tests performed during the last 2 weeks (n=3,265) compared to the previous weeks (n=112) due to the intensification of testing for students and teachers in high-risk areas (school exams periods), mainly in Aleppo and Deir-ez-Zor. On the other hand, there is a decline of COVID-19 severe cases at hospitals level in GOS after Eid holiday, which reflects a slowdown in the occurrence of COVID-19 cases in Syria. However, the risk of COVID-19 increase can’t be ruled out yet, since vaccination is at low levels among the community and the commitment to recommended IPC measures is still suboptimal.

Source: World Health Organization