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First coronavirus-associated death reported from Syria - agency

A woman died in hospital

MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. The first coronavirus-associated death has been reported from Syria, SANA news agency said on Sunday, citing the health ministry.

According to the ministry, the patient, a woman, died in hospital.

So far, four Syrians have been taken to hospital near Damascus with coronavirus.

A ban on movements between regional centers in Syria came into force earlier on Sunday in a bid to prevent the spread of the coronavirus infection. Traffic between settlements inside provinces has also been stopped. A curfew from six in the evening to six in the morning was imposed in Damascus and other Syrian cities on March 25. School classes have been suspended till April 16. Most of government institutions, as well as marketplaces and commercial structures, service companies, social and culture establishments have suspended their activities.

A pneumonia outbreak caused by the COVID-19 virus (previously known as 2019-nCoV) was reported in China’s city of Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center with a population of 12 million, in late December 2019. Cases of the new coronavirus have also been reported from 160 countries, including Russia, which by now has 1,534. According to the latest update, the novel coronavirus cases across the globe have neared 620,000, with nearly 30,000 fatalities. The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially described the situation with the novel coronavirus as a pandemic.