MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th April, 2020) Yemeni Foreign Minister Mohammed Al-Hadhrami said on Friday that the Saudi-led coalition's ceasefire has become a necessity since the first coronavirus case was registered in the country, and called on the warring parties to join the efforts in the fight against the pandemic.
Earlier in the day, the Yemeni National Emergency Committee tackling the spread of COVID-19 registered the first case of the disease in the eastern province of Hadramaut.
"Today, the first coronavirus case was registered in Yemen, which requires us to unite efforts in ending the spread of this dangerous pandemic in our country. Thus, the commitment to a ceasefire initiative [between the conflict-involved parties], which we have responded to, becomes a necessity that we cannot delay," al-Hadrami said, as quoted by the Foreign Ministry's official account on Twitter.
On Wednesday, the coalition announced that it would cease military operations in Yemen for two weeks in response to a UN call for a global ceasefire amid the pandemic.
Yemen has been facing a long-running armed conflict between the government forces and the Houthi rebel movement, which has resulted in a massive humanitarian crisis.
