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UN: 'Tragedy Beckons' if COVID-19 Hits Syria Hard

Margaret Besheer

   NEW YORK - The U.N. humanitarian chief warned Wednesday that war-torn
   Syria faces a catastrophe if the coronavirus takes hold in the country.

   "If this virus is behaving similarly in Syria to how it has elsewhere
   -- and that is our assumption for now -- then tragedy beckons,"
   MarkLowcocktold the U.N. Security Council in a remote meeting
   Wednesday.

   He said the country's health care system, crippled by nearly a decade
   of war, cannot cope with an outbreak that is challenging even the
   richest nations.

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