Yemen’s Supreme National Emergency Committee for Coronavirus confirmed Thursday that two of the five patients who tested positive for COVID-19 had passed away. Almasdar Online reported the deaths yesterday after speaking with a government official with knowledge of the matter. 

The identities of the victims have not been released, but the committee did announce that one victim was female and one was male. 

“Three [infected patients] are still under full medical care and following the isolation procedures coordinated with the World Health Organization (WHO). [They] are in stable health," said Dr. Ali Al-Waleedi, spokesman for the national coronavirus committee. 

"Rapid response teams and epidemiological surveillance teams continue to [trace] and follow up with any relatives, friends, [and others] the patients” may have been in contact with, he said, calling  on citizens to abide by the preventive health measures issued and not to gather in public.

"There have been no new cases of coronavirus in the past few hours," Al-Waleedi said.

"We hope that the UN Humanitarian Office and the World Health Organization (WHO) will put pressure on Houthi authorities to share information with absolute transparency and to [be transparent] about their current situation, based on moral responsibility to protect the Yemeni people," he said.

Local sources, including one doctor, told Almasdar Online that three hospitals in Aden have shuttered their doors since the announcement of the five new COVID-19 cases. Some did so right away and others closed when their medical staff left or did not show up for their shifts. 

The sources said that the emergency room of the Republic Hospital in eastern Aden was devoid of doctors and nurses who feared the hospital was not prepared to handle coronavirus cases. 

Earlier, the Republic Hospital’s director, Dr. Tarek Mazydah, warned that the hospital could close if there is not adequate PPE for staff, and if the hospital does not receive government support for the COVID-19 response. 

Sources said that doctors and nurses of Al-Jumhuriya Hospital left in batches Thursday morning due to the lack of PPE and trained staff to handle COVID-19 patients. Al-Jumhuryiya is the largest hospital in Aden. 

A local source in the neighborhood of Sheikh Othman told Almasdar Online that some doctors and nurses at Al-Sadaqah Hospital began to leave work at noon Wednesday, hours before the city's health authorities announced confirmation of five new cases of coronavirus.

The source added that doctors and nurses left their work sites in the hospital after receiving information that the virus was spreading.

The Cuban Hospital in Mansoura district was closed Thursday morning. It is the second hospital in Mansoura, after Al-Wali Hospital, to officially announce it’s closing, citing its fear of the coronavirus. 

According to a medical professional who is not authorized to speak to the press, a patient with COVID-19 symptoms was hospitalized Wednesday at an undisclosed hospital and left Thursday morning after being asked to do so by the facility’s administration. The hospital then announced it was shutting down due to a lack of PPE and trained staff. 

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Edited by Ahlam Mohsen and Casey Coombs