Coronavirus Outbreak: ISIS advice terrorists to 'cover mouth while yawning, sneezing'

In the thick of Coronavirus, which has managed to plunge the world into a state of a health crisis, even the Islamic State (ISIS) issued an advisory to tackle the disease in their weekly al-Naba newsletter. Although the set of guidances largely encompassed religious than scientific advice, the ISIS in an infographic also listed preventive measures to keep the disease at bay. 

Through its weekly, the ISIS asked its fighters to "stay away from the land of the epidemic," with Europe being the epicenter of Coronavirus. Apart from urging its fighters to wash their hands, further elaborating, ISIS asked them to do so even if one wakes up in the middle of the night as one "does not know where his hand spent the night." "Cover their mouths when yawning and sneezing," the ISIS advisory added.  

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Joining the Coronavirus precautionary fray, ISIS further urged the infected fighters to not leave the area in order to prevent the spread of the virus. Calling it a "torment" sent by God, the terror organisation, in addition, said, "illnesses do not strike by themselves but by the command and decree of God." Though the ISIS has mostly lost control of most of its so-called caliphate in the Middle East, it still holds pockets of power in parts of Iraq and Syria. 

Most Middle Eastern countries including--Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAQ, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman have reported cases of Coronavirus, majorly in those with a travel history to Iran. Across the world, over 150,000 have been reported until Saturday morning with over 5,800 deaths. Iraq reported 110 cases of Coronavirus until Sunday afternoon and 10 deaths. Meanwhile, there have been no cases reported in Syria, drawing concerns towards the country's grim health services. The World Health Organisation on Wednesday declared the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, outbreak as a pandemic, months after the virus spread from China's Wuhan.

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What is Coronavirus?

The coronavirus (CoV) is a novel strain in the large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes. Common symptoms of the novel coronavirus (nCoV) strain include respiratory symptoms such as fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties, as per WHO. Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people, according to the WHO. Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans.