More than 40 members of UN staff and their families caught the coronavirus in war-torn Syria, a UN official told AFP on Tuesday, even as global deaths from Covid-19 inched towards 900,000.

There were about 200 people including “staff and dependents, spouses, children, parents, who have displayed symptoms of Covid-19,” said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. “From these 200, there are 42 staff and dependents who have been confirmed positive with Covid-19,” he added, speaking to AFP from Geneva, without specifying the nationalities of the infected personnel.

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Three people had to be medically evacuated, but most of the others had only “mild” symptoms. The suspected cases were self-isolating for a 14-day period, he said, adding the virus had sickened people working in different UN agencies across the country.

Syria has recorded 3,229 cases of Covid-19, with 137 deaths registered in zones controlled by the Damascus government.

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