QAMISHLI, Syria — The coronavirus pandemic has piled pressure onto many already struggling low-income families in northern Syria.

Day-laborers are among the many struggling to make ends meet and support their families amid ongoing partial and sometimes full COVID-19 lockdowns.

“We work on a day-to-day basis. A curfew is currently in place. We have stayed at home for over a month,” said Abdulla Mohammed, a construction worker who waits at the same spot in Qamishli everyday with 40 other day-labourers.

He says lockdowns have left them with little chance to earn enough to provide for their families.

A local official noted that despite the hard and physically demanding nature of their work, day laborers earn low wages.


Translation by Zhelwan Zeyad Wali

Rudaw