![Temperature checks of Syrians for measures taken against the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in Idlib, Syria on 24 March 2020 [Muhammed Said/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/20200324_2_41534253_53362504.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Local authorities in Syria’s northwestern city of Idlib yesterday announced the first coronavirus fatality.
“Today, we’ve recorded the first death from coronavirus of an 80-year-old woman in Idlib,” Syrian Interim Government (SIG)’s health minister, Maram Al-Sheikh, told reporters, adding that the victim had been suffering from “chronic kidney failure.”
Al-Sheikh pointed out that the elderly lady was put on a ventilator but her polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test was positive.
As of Wednesday, there were a total of 54 infected people across all opposition-controlled areas, 46 of whom have recovered, according to official data.
The virus has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
READ: Turkey sends military reinforcements into Syria’s Idlib
![Coronavirus spreading in the Middle East - Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/IMG_0605-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C750&ssl=1)
Coronavirus spreading in the Middle East – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]