عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

COVID-19 Vaccination Campaigns Kick Off in Hasakah Refugee Camps

COVID-19 vaccine campaign kicks off in Roj and Newroz camps in northeast Syria [Asharq Al-Awsat]
COVID-19 vaccine campaign kicks off in Roj and Newroz camps in northeast Syria [Asharq Al-Awsat]
TT
TT

COVID-19 Vaccination Campaigns Kick Off in Hasakah Refugee Camps

COVID-19 vaccine campaign kicks off in Roj and Newroz camps in northeast Syria [Asharq Al-Awsat]
COVID-19 vaccine campaign kicks off in Roj and Newroz camps in northeast Syria [Asharq Al-Awsat]

COVID-19 vaccine campaigns were launched on Monday in the refugee camps of Syria’s northeastern region of Hasakah, which is under the control of the Autonomous Administration.

The campaign kicked off by targeting the elderly and those with chronic diseases in Newroz Camp in the northern countryside of Derik.

The Autonomous Administration received last month 23,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines through the COVAX program, including 13,200 doses for Hasakah.

The WHO Country Office in Syria said it will provide logistical support to mobile vaccination teams in the region to ensure wider coverage and equitable access to the vaccines.

“The vaccination campaign will last for only one day in the Roj Camp,” said Serbest Hussam, the person in charge of the vaccinations in the Health center in Derik.

He said only 50 doses were given to people above 55 years old, and those with chronic diseases.

Around 750 families live in the camp, including Iraqi refugees, displaced Syrians, and ISIS families, according to the camp management.

Meanwhile, in the Newroz Camp, medical teams began giving the second dose of the vaccine to those who were vaccinated two months ago.

The camp houses about 300 families with a total of 1,650 people who were displaced from the regions of Afrin, Sere Kaniye, and Tel Abyad.

Also, only 50 doses of the vaccine were provided to people above 55 years old, and to those who are above 18 but have chronic diseases.

Hussam said medical teams launched an awareness campaign at the camps.

“We wanted to counter misleading information about the vaccine and the rumors about its side-effects,” he said.

On Monday, the Autonomous Administration reported three COVID-19 related deaths in areas under its control and 34 confirmed cases, bringing the total number of infections to 18,281, including 752 deaths.

The director of the medical point of the Kurdish Red Crescent in the camp, Mahmoud Ali, said that no COVID-19 infections were reported at both camps during the past month.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
TT
TT

Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.