The public health risk of COVID-19 in the Middle East is worrying enough, but the attendant geopolitical and security risks are also cause for concern
A medic checks body temperature of passengers in Syria’s Kurdish area. Photo: DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images The COVID-19 novel coronavirus appears to be spreading rapidly in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Tunisia, and Morocco reported on Monday that the virus had arrived in their countries, while Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Qatar confirmed additional cases.
Muslims travel by the millions each year to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina for the hajj and umrah pilgrimages, while Shia Muslims in particular make pilgrimages to holy shrines in Iraq and Iran. Saudi Arabia has suspended visas for foreigners planning to visit the country to make umrah, the lesser pilgrimage — a major blow to the large number of travel agencies in Muslim countries that specialize in arranging pilgrimages.
In northwestern Syria, fighting between government and rebel forces has driven as many as 948,000 people from their homes since early December. Many of these internally displaced people are living in acutely precarious circumstances, with inadequate shelter , limited supplies of food and medicine, and increasingly sparse health facilities.
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