Syria’s Assad, Wife Test Positive for COVID-19

Syrian President Bashar Assad and his wife have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the president’s office.

A statement by the office said on Monday that Mr. and Mrs. Assad have only mild symptoms of the illness.

It said the country’s first couple did PCR tests after they experienced minor symptoms consistent with the COVID-19 disease.

Mr. Assad, fifty-five, and his wife Asma, who is ten years younger and announced her recovery from breast cancer in 2019, will continue to work from home, where they will isolate between two to three weeks, the statement said.

Both were in “good health and in stable condition,” it added.

Syria, which marks a decade of war next week, has registered nearly 16,000 COVID-19 cases in government-held parts of the country, including 1,063 deaths. But a recent report by the Associated Press says the numbers are much higher with limited amounts of PCR tests being done, particularly in areas of northern Syria outside government control.

Frcn, Abuja