2020-05-13
"It is no longer possible to control coronavirus in Aden. It is spiraling out of control, cases are in the hundreds if not in thousands," says a doctor in a local hospital in the city controlled by a militia of foreign-backed separatists and Salafis.
The doctor, who for security reasons uses the teknonym "Abu Hamza al-Yafiee", unveiled in his Facebook page on Wednesday that "the past 15 days have seen the deaths of 800 people in the city" amidst a clampdown by the Southern Transitional Council governing the city on the leak of this news. "
"The cases of infection with covid-19 reported and made public do not exceed 5% of the real cases," he says. "The suspected infections are in the hundreds but only ten cases are tested a day."
The doctor's revelations come amidst a total indifference by the ruling STC which has been stepping up crackdown on suspected social media activists with the government in Aden after its abandoning of a power handover agreement and declaration of self-rule. The STC forces, composed of southern separatists and Salafi paramilitary Jihadist militias, have been preoccupied with amassing troops to a frontline with the government in Abyan, north of Aden.
Yemen's government recently said these militias and the international community silent on their illegal hold of the city bear responsibility for the consecutive health crises plaguing the city, from fevers ensuing flash floods to coronavirus.