This photo shows a packed crowd of Syrian citizens who wish to travel abroad in front of a coronavirus testing centre awaiting the mandatory tests, with the very evident lack of any social distancing clearly violating all the precautionary measures introduced to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic among the public. SNHR notes that the Syrian regime’s Ministry of Health issued a directive on July 22, 2020 compelling all Syrians wishing to travel outside Syria via Beirut Airport to pay the equivalent of 100 US dollars, according to the exchange rate of the Commercial Bank of Syria, for medical tests using PCR swabs solely to detect the COVID-19 coronavirus conducted at specific centers in Damascus city.
We can affirm that, through this latest ruling, the Syrian regime is once again demonstrating its continuing imposition of legislation violating fundamental principles of human rights, legitimizing further theft of already impoverished citizens’ money and that the decision to force citizens to undergo this test in Damascus exclusively, will further constrain Syrian citizens living in other governorates, forcing them to travel unnecessarily and exposing them to a greater risk of exposure to the COVID-19 coronavirus. Despite this, however, the Syrian regime has taken no real action to stop overcrowding of citizens at these centers. This negligence on the regime’s part is a blatant violation of precautionary measures for disease prevention. The SNHR notes that this is further confirmation that a regime responsible for the killing of hundreds of thousands of Syrians and the displacement of 12 million more as refugees and IDPs will not care for its people.
The Syrian regime has failed to even attempt to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic among Syrian citizens, neglecting to apply the most basic precautionary measures stipulated by the World Health Organization.
Photo source: the photo shared online on August 10, 2020
