Coronavirus Spreading among Saudi-Led Coalition Mercenaries in Yemen
The classified document dated on March 21 and issued by the “defense ministry” of Yemen’s former government says that a number of the mercenary forces have contracted COVID-19.
Some sources have reported at least 35 confirmed cases of coronavirus among the coalition forces and mercenaries in Yemen.
Leader of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi had earlier said the virus has spread among the coalition forces but the coalition has denied it.
Meanwhile Yemen is seen as especially vulnerable to COVID-19 because the five-year Saudi-led aggression has brought its health system to the brink of collapse and has created one of the worst man-made humanitarian disasters in the world.
The country has already been struggling with overlapping infectious diseases including cholera, diphtheria and dengue fever, and large numbers of people have been displaced in the ongoing conflict.
About 24 million of its population of 29 million need humanitarian assistance. There are no doctors in 18 percent of the country’s districts, most healthcare workers have not been paid for at least two years, and COVID-19 testing kits are available for just 600 people, according to the World Bank.
