Syria’s President Assad and his wife have both tested positive for Covid-19 and are showing mild symptoms
- Syrian leader, 55, and his wife Asma, 45, have both tested positive for the virus
- Assad joins leaders including Trump, Johnson and Macron who have had Covid
- Syria has officially seen 16,000 cases but true figures are likely to be far higher
Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma have tested positive for Covid-19 after showing mild symptoms, authorities said today.
Assad’s office said the president, 55, and his wife, 45, were in good health and would continue to work while in isolation at home.
It makes him the latest in a lengthening line of world leaders to be infected with the virus after Boris Johnson and Donald Trump were both hospitalised with Covid-19 and others including Emmanuel Macron and Jair Bolsonaro had milder cases.
Syria has officially seen around 16,000 cases and 1,000 deaths, but the true numbers are likely to be far higher because the country’s dire economic situation means testing is scarce and lockdown options are limited.
Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma, pictured voting in parliamentary elections in Damascus last year, have tested positive for Covid-19