Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife, Asma, have recovered from Covid-19 and are no longer symptomatic, the president’s office said in a statement on Tuesday.
Assad’s office said in a statement on March 8 that the president and his wife tested positive for Covid-19. Both were in “stable condition” at the time and planned to self-isolate for two or three weeks.
“The symptoms of Covid-19 infection have disappeared,” the statement said. PCR tests for both also returned negative results.
War-torn Syria has recorded nearly 46,000 positive Covid-19 cases and more than 2,000 deaths based on cumulative numbers of multiple local medical authorities. It’s been difficult to put together a full picture of the outbreak in the country due to the ongoing conflict.
Damascus received its first shipment of vaccines on March 1 from an unnamed “friendly” country, according to Syria’s state news agency. The type and quantities of the vaccines were not mentioned in the statement.
Other territories in Syria, including rebel-held and Kurdish-held areas, have not yet received vaccines.