Health workers in Syrian camp for ISIS families test positive for COVID-19

Aug 6, 2020

UN and local officials have confirmed COVID-19 cases in al-Hol camp for Islamic State (IS) families in northeast Syria. Humanitarian organizations warn that the notorious camp is susceptible to an outbreak of the coronavirus due to the poor conditions there.

Three health workers tested positive for COVID-19 on Aug. 3, UN spokesperson David Swanson told Al-Monitor.

These are the first known cases of the virus in the camp.

Al-Hol hosts more 65,000 people in a desert area of northeast Syria near the Iraqi border. The mostly women and children in the camp have varying degrees of affiliations with IS. Most of the population is from Iraq and Syria, but there are thousands of foreigners as well. The area is within the territory of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. The Kurdish-led statelet’s Syrian Democratic Forces, who are backed by the United States, hold thousands of IS fighters in detention centers as well as their families in al-Hol and other camps.

The workers who tested positive are Syrian nationals working for the Kurdish Red Crescent humanitarian organization, an autonomous administration official responsible for camps told Al-Monitor. They are now isolating at home and are in “good condition” after testing positive at a hospital in the city of Hasakah, the official said.