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Jordan confirms two COVID-19 cases in a Syrian refugee camp: U.N. – Metro US

Jordan confirms two COVID-19 cases in a Syrian refugee camp: U.N.

FILE PHOTO:  Syrian refugee children ride their bicycles at
FILE PHOTO: Syrian refugee children ride their bicycles at Azraq refugee camp, near Al Azraq city

AMMAN (Reuters) – Jordanian authorities confirmed the first two cases of coronavirus in a refugee camp hosting Syrian refugees since the pandemic was first reported in the kingdom, the U.N refugee agency said on Tuesday.

The two Syrians who were transferred to an isolation site tested positive during random testing done by Jordanian health authorities in the Azraq camp, said Rula Amin, UNHCR spokeswoman for the Middle East and North Africa.

There have been several other infections of Syrian refugees living outside the camps, among around 2,500 cases in Jordan since the first was reported on March 2, Amin said.

Most of the 655,000 United Nations-registered Syrian refugees live in urban centres.

A majority of Syrian refugees who fled their homeland since the start of the nearly decade long conflict in 2011 have remained in Jordan.

(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Tom Brown)