Doctors Without Borders (MSF) yesterday warned of an “increasing risk of malaria outbreak in Yemen”, as rain floods the country.

“With the start of the rain season, a risk of a malaria outbreak in Yemen increases,” MSF said on Twitter, on the occasion of the World Malaria Day.

“While Yemen is currently preparing for a possible spread of Covid-19 the rest of the health system needs to be kept running, or else we must expect a rise in deaths from other diseases such as malaria,” the Geneva-based organisation added.

MSF stressed that the malaria treatment was putting “considerable strains on an already overwhelmed health system,” adding that it was also “threatening the lives of many Yemenis, particularly children and pregnant women.”

The humanitarian organisation noted that it had treated 13,093 malaria cases in a number of Yemeni governorates in 2019, including Hudaydah, Hajj, Ibb, Taiz, and Amran.

Several Yemeni provinces have been experiencing heavy rains, causing dozens of casualties. The heavy rains have also led to large losses to public and private properties.

Yemen has so far registered only one confirmed coronavirus case in the eastern governorate of Hadhramout. The local authorities later reported that the patient had recovered.