ZCZC
BFF-36
HEALTH-VIRUS-YEMEN
Yemen rebels close Sanaa airport over virus
SANAA, March 14, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Yemen’s Huthi rebels said Saturday they
would suspend passenger flights in and out of Sanaa airport for two weeks to
prevent the introduction of novel coronavirus.
A Saudi-led military coalition battling the rebels has long controlled
Yemen’s airspace and the capital’s airport had served only rare United
Nations and humanitarian flights since 2016.
But the Iran-allied insurgents announced “the temporary halting of all
passenger flights” for two weeks, starting Saturday.
Yemen has not to date announced any cases of the COVID-19 illness, but the
poor state of the country’s health infrastructure after five years of war
would mean that such an outbreak could be catastrophic.
Yemen has over three million displaced people and over a third of the
population needs humanitarian aid, according to the United Nations, which
calls the country’s crisis the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
BSS/AFP/IJ/2110 hrs