War-torn Yemen reports first COVID-19 deaths stoking fears

(AFP Photo/MOHAMMED HUWAIS)

Yemen has recorded its first two coronavirus deaths, the health minister said late Wednesday, after the war-torn country confirmed five new cases, stoking fears of a serious outbreak.

Yemen's healthcare system has been blighted by years of war that have driven millions from their homes and plunged the country into what the United Nations describes because the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

On Wednesday, Yemen recorded five new cases of COVID-19 in its second city Aden, the committee monitoring the outbreak said on Twitter.

The country has been largely spared from the consequences of the pandemic, with a complete of six cases recorded thus far -- the primary in April within the government-controlled southeastern province of Hadramawt.

"There was an announcement of 5 cases of coronavirus today -- of these infections there have been two deaths," Health Minister Nasser Baoum told Yemen TV.





"We conducted the tests twice, and that they were positive," he said. "Therefore, there's little question under these worldwide circumstances that we've to announce they were cases of coronavirus until proven otherwise."

The deaths come after aid organisations warned any coronavirus outbreak could have dire consequences after six years of war .

The conflict between government forces and Shiite rebels escalated in March 2015, when a Saudi-led military coalition intervened against the rebels after they overran much of the country.

The war has left tens of thousands of individuals dead, most of them civilians, and therefore the UN says around 24 million Yemenis -- quite two thirds of the population -- believe some sort of aid.

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