The Arabian Peninsular nation of Yemen is already a humanitarian nightmare. The ancient nation, whose history dates back to the earliest Afro-semitic civilizations in the world and remained a major force in power until the rise of Islam, has been going through a genocide waged against her by Saudi Arabia and backed by the US by way of cheap weapons shipments to the Kingdom. The US knows what is happening, but simply doesn’t care. There is no other way to explain it.
Now Yemen is about to face another major humanitarian crisis as the first case of COVID-19 has been found in the country, and given her wrecked and impoverished state, could cause a massive spread of the disease.
Yemen has reported its first coronavirus case in a southern province, raising fears of catastrophic consequences in a healthcare system broken by five years of war.
“The first confirmed case of coronavirus has been reported in Hadramout province,” Yemen’s supreme national emergency committee for COVID-19 said on Twitter on Friday.
The committee, run by the internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, said the infected patient was in stable condition and receiving care.
The large southern province of Hadramout has seen some of the worst pockets of malnutrition and disease in the war-torn country.
Control of Hadramout has long been divided. Government forces backed by a Saudi Arabia-led coalition control the coastal towns, but parts of the interior remain in the hands of al-Qaeda fighters.
The committee said medical teams and concerned authorities had taken all necessary precautions and promised to release further details on the coronavirus case later Friday.
The victim was a Yemeni working in the port of al-Shihr, a local official told Reuters news agency. (source)
Given Yemen’s proximity to East Africa, and how many refugees came from East Africa to Europe, one must naturally ask if Yemen could become a source of refugees attempting to flee the nation, and potentially to Europe with the help of US and German backed NGOs.
Yemen is in a horrible situation right now. The is scarcely a nation that cares about her welfare, and instead she has seen little more than suffering and war. If the COVID-19 virus seriously begins to spread within her, it will only mean disaster on an unprecedented scale. The question is, will this disaster be exploited for political manipulation?
It is yet to be seen.
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