<p>"They are in good health and their condition is stable," it said, adding that the couple will quarantine for up to three weeks.</p><p>Assad is 55 and his wife is 10 years his junior.</p><p>Their positive test results came more than a week after Syria started vaccinating frontline health workers using jabs delivered from an unidentified "friendly state".</p><p>The government has recorded 15,981 cases of Covid-19, including 1,063 deaths in government-held areas.</p><p>In the Kurdish-held northeast, the Kurdish administration has announced a total 8,689 cases and 368 deaths.</p><p>In rebel-held northwest Syria, opposition officials have reported 21,209 cases, including 632 deaths.</p><p>Members of the government are set to receive jabs as part of the World Health Organisation's Covax initiative by the end of this month.</p><p>The WHO, the UN children's agency UNICEF and the Gavi vaccine alliance, said they would help Syria get jabs to cover initially at least three percent of an estimated 20-million-strong population, and aim for 20 percent by the end of the year.</p><p>Syria has also authorised the use of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, according to its embassy in Moscow.</p><p>The conflict in Syria since 2011 has killed more than 387,000 people and ravaged a healthcare sector struggling to cope with a mass outflux of professionals.</p><p>The health ministry this month warned of a surge in infections, urging compliance with coronavirus measures.</p><p>Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak last year, Damascus has struggled to enforce strict restrictions because of a stringent economic crisis compounded by a devaluation of the local currency on the black market.</p><p>Markets and public transport have maintained their usual bustle despite the pandemic, with many even foregoing face masks.</p><p>© 2021 AFP</p>
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