Syria has imposed a lockdown on the town of Ras al-Ma'ara following a cornavirus outbreak there which has so far resulted in 20 people becoming infected. This is the largest cluster of related cases reported by the Syrian authorities since the pandemic began.

According to government figures, Syria has had only 144 confirmed cases since the first one was detected on March 22, and until last Thursday the virus appeared to be in retreat. During the previous nine days only two new cases had been recorded.

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On Thursday, however, a truck driver who apparently lives in Ras al-Ma'ara – some 60km north of Damascus and close to the Lebanese border – was diagnosed with Covid-19.

On Sunday, the health ministry announced that 16 people in the town who had been "in close contact" with the driver were also infected, and on Monday it announced three more.

This is reminiscent of last-month's case of a cross-border truck driver in Jordan who returned from Saudi Arabia while incubating the virus and ignored the self-isolation rules – with the result that at least 90 others became infected.

The Ras al-Ma'ara truck driver also works in cross-border transport, plying the route between Syria and Jordan. A second driver, working on the same route, was also diagnosed on Saturday according to the Syrian health ministry. The implication is that both drivers contracted the disease in Jordan, though the Syrian authorities haven't explicitly said so.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the border, Jordanian authorities have reported two cases among truck drivers of unspecified nationality arriving from Syria at the Jaber-Nasib crossing point – one on Friday and one on Sunday.

Jordan has had a lot of problems with infected truck drivers on its southern border with Saudi Arabia but until last week none had been reported on its northern border with Syria.

Infections among drivers coming from Saudi Arabia are not particularly surprising, since the kingdom has recorded more than 100,000 cases overall. Jordan and Syria, though, have much lower numbers. Syria's official total (which not everyone believes) is a mere 144 cases, while Jordan's (based on more transparent information) is 831.

In the light of those low numbers it would be a huge coincidence if four people, all of them truck drivers on the same route, had picked up the virus from different sources in the space of four days. It's much more likely there's a single source – so far unidentified.

Tracing the source and preventing further occurrences is going to require cooperation between the Syrian and Jordanian governments which, given the nature of the Syrian regime, may not be straightforward.

Further information:
Covid-19 in Syria
Covid-19 in Jordan
Previous Middle East updates
Covid-19 statistics for the Middle East

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Middle East updates

New cases

A further 12,384 Covid-19 infections have been reported in the Middle East and North Africa since yesterday's update.

Saudi Arabia reported the region's biggest day-on-day increase with 3,369 new cases, followed by Iran with 2,043.

Egypt, Iraq and the UAE each reported more than a thousand new cases.

The list below shows cumulative totals (excluding Iran) since the outbreak began, with day-on-day increases in brackets.

Algeria 10,265 (+111)
Bahrain 15,731 (+968)
Egypt 35,444 (+1,365)
Iraq 13,481 (+1,115)
Israel 18,089 (+174)
Jordan 831 (+23)
Kuwait 33,140 (+990)
Lebanon 1,350 (+19)
Libya 332 (+76)
Morocco 8,408 (+158)
Oman 18,198 (+712)
Palestine 652 (+1)
Qatar 70,158 (-)
Saudi Arabia 105,283 (+3,369)
Sudan 6,242 (+161)
Syria 144 (+3)
Tunisia 1,087 (-)
UAE 39,904 (+1,096)
Yemen 500 (+12)

TOTAL: 378,739 (+10,341)

Note: Yemen's total includes four cases reported by the unrecognised Houthi government in the north of the country. Palestine's total includes East Jerusalem.

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Death toll

A further 200 coronavirus-related deaths were reported in the region yesterday – 70 of them in Iran. Egypt and Saudi Arabia each reported 34 deaths.

The list below shows cumulative totals in the region outside Iran, with day-on-day increases in brackets.

Algeria 715 (+8)
Bahrain 27 (+1)
Egypt 1,271 (+34)
Iraq 370 (+24)
Israel 298 (-)
Jordan 9 (-)
Kuwait 273 (+4)
Lebanon 30 (-)
Libya 5 (-)
Morocco 208 (-)
Oman 83 (+2)
Palestine 5 (-)
Qatar 57 (+3)
Saudi Arabia 746 (+34)
Sudan 372 (+13)
Syria 6 (-)
Tunisia 49 (-)
UAE 283 (+7)
Yemen 113 (-)

TOTAL: 4,920 (+130)

Note: Yemen's total includes one death reported by the unrecognised Houthi government in the north of the country.