Syria records 11 swine flu deaths since September 2015
About a dozen people have been killed in Syria as a result of the outbreak of swine flu amid the fight against foreign-backed militancy.
Officials in Syria’s Health Ministry said on Tuesday that 11 people have died due to the seasonal virus since the beginning of September, a sharp rise compared to previous rates of death from swine flu in the country.
“Since September, 27 people infected with the H1N1 virus have been hospitalized. Eleven of them died,” said Ahmad Damiriyeh of the health ministry's division on chronic and contagious diseases.
Damiriyeh told the state-run Al-Thawra newspaper that the cases of the disease were spread across Syria.
Syria first reported a death from swine flu in August 2009, when the Middle East was plagued by the virus, prompting warnings from the World Health Organization and governments in the region.
The H1N1 killed about 18,500 people in 214 countries by August 2010, when the WHO lifted its warning.
Damiriyeh did not elaborate on how much the militancy has implicated the outbreak.
The turmoil in Syria, which the government blames on foreign governments, has left a huge impact on the country’s civilian infrastructure, with many hospitals and health facilities already destroyed in the fighting. More than 250,000 people have died and millions more have been displaced since the violence erupted in the country in March 2011.
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