Aid workers test positive at camp housing jihadi brides

THREE health workers in the notorious Al-hol refugee camp where relatives of Islamic State fighters are housed have tested positive for coronavirus, prompting fears a rapid outbreak could be under way.

Al-hol, operated by the autonomous Kurdish administration that controls most of north-east Syria, is the cramped home of thousands of refugees displaced from territory formerly occupied by IS, as well as former members of the group and their families.

“On Aug 3, three health workers reportedly tested positive for Covid-19 at the Al-hol IDP camp,” a spokesman for the UN’S Organisation for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

“The contact tracing process is ongoing. As a precautionary measure, only critical staff, with personal protective equipment, are allowed to operate inside the camp.”

It is understood the three infected people work for the Kurdish Red Crescent, which provides aid to detainees.

A small number of British wives of IS fighters and their children are in the camp. Shamima Begum, the London teenager who fled to join IS, was initially placed in Al-hol but has been moved to the smaller Roj camp.

Nine years of war have decimated healthcare in Syria, but the situation in the north-east is particularly severe, as Kurdish authorities have been left to cope with the coronavirus pandemic largely unaided.

This has raised fears that any outbreak could escalate into an epidemic gripping the entire Kurdish region.

The total number of cases of coronavirus in Syria is believed to be around 940, though the actual figure is likely to be significantly higher. Around 48 people are said to have died due to the disease so far.

Since the outbreak, authorities have prevented journalists from entering the camps, making it difficult to verify information.