Syria says Assad, wife have returned to regular duties after COVID-19 recovery

The Syrian office of the president on Tuesday said that President Bashar Assad and his wife, Asma al-Assad, have recovered from COVID-19 and have returned to regular duties.

The couple announced on March 8 that they had tested positive for the virus and had been in isolation since.

The president’s office said that the symptoms are gone from the couple and that their PCR tests have come back negative, The Associated Press reported.

Assad had his first public appearance since contracting the virus on Tuesday, when he ran a Cabinet meeting.

The AP noted that Syria’s hospitals in its capital have hit capacity when dealing with the virus as the country also marks its 10th year of civil war.

The country has reported 18,000 coronavirus cases during the pandemic, but the number is likely much higher due to limited testing in the area.

Other world leaders in the United States, Brazil, United Kingdom and France have also contracted the coronavirus and recovered from it. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) will be helping Syria begin to vaccinate its population in April, according to the AP.

The WHO asked richer countries on March 26 to donate 10 million vaccine doses to poorer countries that have been struggling to obtain it.