De autonome myndighetene tilbyr denne nye testen gratis til alle i Midtøsten og Europa.

Følgende pressemelding er sendt ut i dag, 21. mars. 2020:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Saturday, March 21, 2020
Contact: Sinam Sherkany Mohamad, US Mission of the Syrian Democratic Council
sinam.sherkany@syriandemocraticcouncil.us

New 30-Second Test Kit for Coronavirus Announced

Washington DC — A quick test kit for Coronavirus (COVID-19) has been developed that can detect an infection by the virus within 30 seconds. This test was developed jointly by scientists with the Health Authority in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and by the Bayas Al-Suwaidi Institute based in Stockholm, Sweden.

The 30-second test kits will be manufactured with strict oversight by the Health Authority of North and East Syria. They will be offered for free to countries in the Middle East and Europe that are experiencing shortages of the test kits. These kits will be distributed to health ministries, labs, and clinics at no charge. They will be distributed to Middle East countries by the Health Authority of the AANES and to European countries by the Bayas Al-Suwaidi Institute.

The 30-second test kit was announced on Friday, March 20, 2020, by Dr. Jewan Mustafa, joint head of the Health Authority of the AANES. The announcement was made in a press conference in the hall of the AANES Department of Foreign Relations in Qamishlo.

Mustafa stated that the accuracy of the test kit was confirmed by using samples of the virus from three hospitals in Wuhan, China. The 30-second test kit proved successful in discovering the epidemic with an effectiveness of 80 to 85 percent. Mustafa explained that this test can identify reactions of the leukocytes towards the entry of any foreign body to the human body. He stated that it does not contain harmful chemicals and is robust enough to endure a variety of weather conditions.

The AANES is a region that covers approximately 31% of the sovereign territory of Syria. It is not under the Government of President Bashar Al-Assad, nor is it the “rebel-held” territory. The AANES is guided by the principles of democracy, decentralization, plurality, feminism, and equality. The military forces of the AANES, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), made history in 2019 when they defeated the ISIS “caliphate,” in alliance with the US military, a victory announced by US President Donald Trump and celebrated across the world.

No test kits for Coronavirus had been sent to North and East Syria by the World Health Organization or any other international body, despite pleas for help by the AANES and the Kurdish Red Crescent (Heyva Sor). As of Friday, March 20, 2020, no cases of Coronavirus had yet been confirmed in North and East Syria, most probably due to the lack of testing. Despite the lack of confirmed cases, the AANES took significant measures to protect its people, including restricting access at the borders and conducting health screenings at borders, opening quarantine centers, issuing “shelter in place” directives, issuing travel advisories, limiting public gatherings, and canceling gatherings for Newroz, the Kurdish New Year.

“The Self Administration of North and East Syria guides this discovery for all of humanity,” stated Dr. Mustafa. “It contributes to the efforts of self-determination in protecting human beings from all that threatens us.”