SITUATION OVERVIEW 2,081 Reported Cases 1,383 Reported Recovered 606 Reported Deaths 11.84K Tests Conducted IOM and partners are preparing for a second wave of COVID-19 in Yemen, as winter and influenza season approach. Already, the limited testing, surveillance and reporting on the virus has meant that information on its spread since March is not fully known. Reported cases have progressively fallen since August, and for the anticipated second wave in the months to come, priorities are centred around increasing surveillance and testing, risk communication and community engagement and securing critical supplies. Of importance will be encouraging behavioral changes aimed at reducing community level transmission. The COVID-19 response, however, is challenged by access issues in some areas as well as the fuel, funding and economic downturns that Yemen is experiencing. UN projections point to a challenging period in the months to come, with recent analyses indicating that for the first time in two years, 13.5 million Yemeni’s facing food insecurity, including 16,500 people living in famine like conditions. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the local authorities in Yemen declared a nationwide health emergency and introduced movement restrictions along key transit and border points. Yemeni authorities had put additional preventive measures and health screenings for people passing through ten transit points used for public movement between southern and northern governorates, specifically at points located in Taizz and Al Bayda. Recently, these restrictions have been loosened and the health screenings have been stopped. For Yemeni returnees from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) through the Al Wadea border entry point, providing a COVID-19 Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test report is mandatory by the Yemeni authorities. Authorities at Al Wadea entry point have installed a PCR testing facility at the entry point for travelers who arrive without a PCR test report.