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US Trying 'Urgently' to Stave Off Coronavirus Outbreak in NE Syria

Nike Ching

   WASHINGTON - Pleas by the predominantly Kurdish forces in northeastern
   Syria for more help to contain a possible coronavirus outbreak and a
   resurgent Islamic State are being heard, even if some of the requested
   aid has been slow in arriving.

   The region, home to tens of thousands of refugees and internally
   displaced persons -- many of them crowded into packed detention camps
   since the defeat of Islamic State's self-declared caliphate -- has been
   gripped by fear as the virus has spread around the world.

   Disease and sickness are already common, but humanitarian groups and
   officials say the coronavirus pandemic has sparked outright panic, even
   blaming a riot at a prison holding captured IS fighters on concerns
   about the pandemic.

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