Houthi rebels admit virus has spread in Yemen

In this May 21, 2020, photo, grave diggers bury a body at Radwan Cemetery in Aden, Yemen. At a cemetery in Yemen’s largest southern city, dozens of fresh graves are a testament to a spike in deaths amid the coronavirus pandemic. The cemetery workers who bury them don’t know what killed the newly deceased. But there’s no denying that there’s been an increasing number of people getting sick in the port city of Aden — likely from the coronavirus. (AP Photo)

CAIRO — Yemen’s Houthi rebels have acknowledged for the first time that the coronavirus has spread to multiple governorates under their control.

The Houthi health ministry buried the admission in a muted statement Thursday, saying only that authorities are working to trace and isolate infected cases that have been recorded in the capital, Sanaa, and several provinces across the war-torn country.

The rebels have officially reported just four cases, including one fatality, and have muzzled doctors and journalists who try to speak out about a dramatic surge in deaths among those with COVID-19 symptoms.

The statement accused the World Health Organization of sending “inaccurate” and deficient tests and said it would reveal the results in the coming days.

Yemen’s internationally recognized government has reported 278 cases and 58 deaths. A major outbreak is threatening to overwhelm the country’s health system, which has been devastated by five years of war.