The first coronavirus case was confirmed in northwest Syria on Thursday, aid workers said, raising fears for a region where hospitals lie in ruins and camps overflow with people after nearly a decade of war.
Doctors have worried for months about the pandemic reaching the northwest, Syria's last big rebel bastion, where an army offensive uprooted around a million people earlier this year.
The person infected is a physician at Bab al-Hawa hospital near the Turkish border, said a report from the Assistance Coordination Unit (ACU), a group that delivers aid and belongs to the Syrian opposition.
He isolated himself as soon as he showed symptoms this week and anyone who came in contact with him will be tested, said the ACU, which has received Western and Turkish Backing.