In the Yemeni city of Taiz, hospital workers scarred by five years of war are attempting to prepare for a new enemy.

This is a country where 80% of the population - some 24 million people - require humanitarian aid.

If coronavirus is pushing the healthcare systems of wealthy European nations to the brink, it isn't difficult to see how devastating an outbreak would be here.

Dr Abdulaziz Qassem is fearing the worst.

(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MEMBER OF CORONAVIRUS TEAM AT JOUMHURIYA HOSPITAL, DR. ABDULAZIZ QASSEM, SAYING:

"There isn't any equipment, not even personal protective equipment for doctors and healthcare workers. We the doctors don't have any protective clothing and we will be the first line of defence in front of corona cases, if they reach us, God forbid."

The pandemic has yet to make clear inroads in Yemen - as far as we know.

Very little testing has taken place.

So far, only one case has been confirmed.

But only one is required to start a deadly outbreak - and aid groups worry what might be about to hit this badly malnourished nation.

The World Health Organization has major concerns about how hospitals will cope.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) WHO'S EMERGENCIES EXPERT, MICHAEL RYAN, SAYING:

"Ventilation is going to be a huge challenge. It's going to be a major, major challenge, and not just the ventilators but more the technicians to run those ventilators."

New testing kits have now arrived, meaning thousands more will get the chance to be tested.

Hope, perhaps.

But the sight of rusty oxygen tanks in Sanaa's Kuwait hospital paints a rather different story about Yemen's prospects of tackling the virus.

This is a country ravaged by war - one where nearly four million people have been displaced - among the poorest and most impoverished in the world.

Coronavirus is a battle they, more than anyone, can do without.