ADEN, Yemen, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Pro-government Yemeni health workers launched a wide-scale sanitation and disinfection campaign in the war-ravaged port city of Hodeidah on Tuesday, as part of preventive measures to fight COVID-19 in the impoverished Arab country.
According to a local official, who asked to remain anonymous, the Saudi-backed Yemeni government funded an initiative to sanitize many residential areas where poor families are living in Hodeidah.
"The campaign will run for three days with the participation of around ten teams of the pro-government health workers," the official said.
He said that "the specialized health workers sanitized many houses and tents in different government-controlled areas in Hodeidah."
The health teams visited some military sites of the government forces and provided the troops with necessary medical information to deal with the novel coronavirus pandemic, he added.
On Saturday, several humanitarian volunteers distributed posters and leaflets containing basic information about preventing coronavirus transmission in some residential areas controlled by the government forces in Hodeidah.
Hundreds of local residents and street vendors in the turbulent district of Tuhyata of Hodeidah were also provided with medical masks, gloves, and disinfectants.
So far, the coronavirus in Yemen is showing no alarming sign, but coping with the potential pandemic will not be easy, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014, when the Iran-backed Houthi group seized control of much of the country's north and forced the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of Sanaa. Enditem
