And now a nightmare scenario is unfolding in Iraq as the United Nations has recorded the first suspected coronavirus cases inside an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued an alert in its latest humanitarian report this week, noting also the World Health Organization (WHO) has dispatched additional supplies and medical devices to Iraq amid broader closures of public spaces after at least 71 confirmed cases nationwide.

But with millions of refugees in the region, especially along the Turkish-Syrian border, and after Erdogan has effectively 'opened the gates' on waves of migrants headed to Europe, the spark that could erupt an explosion of outbreaks in camps across the Middle East may have started.