Turkey is facilitating the supply of medical aid to northwestern Syria to cope with a potential outbreak of the novel coronavirus, U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock told the Security Council Wednesday.

Lowcock said the need to prepare for the potential arrival of the coronavirus pandemic in the region makes efforts to scale up all the more urgent, adding items such as hygiene kits and tents for isolation units are being prioritized for cross-border transshipment.

"Turkey is facilitating this scale-up, notwithstanding its own battle with the virus," he said.

"Humanitarian organizations have put in place strict measures to comply with Turkish regulations and to minimize risks of transmission of the virus at trans-shipment hubs or in other ways."

In his briefing to the world body, he said cross-border aid to relieve the humanitarian situation in the northwest is operating at "record levels."

In March, 1,486 trucks crossed the border from Turkey under the U.N. program. In April, more than 1,100 trucks have been dispatched, said Lowcock.

According to a running tally by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University, Syria has recorded 43 coronavirus cases and three deaths so far. But concerns remain high as parts of the country are war-hit and lack proper health gear.

Meanwhile, the U.N. special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, called for a lasting cease-fire to end fighting in the country.

With millions of people displaced in crowded conditions and without adequate sanitation, Pedersen said Syria can’t be expected "to cope with a crisis that is challenging even the wealthiest nations."

Efforts are being made to set up isolation areas in displacement camps and health facilities in Syria, but measures aimed at containing the virus are already having side effects such as skyrocketing food prices in some areas, he said.

Lowcock said essential medical supplies and equipment must be allowed into the country, and that the Al Yarubiyah border crossing from Iraq to Syria’s northeast must be reopened.

The border crossing was closed in January at Russia’s insistence, and Lowcock said deliveries of medical supplies to the northeast from Damascus have not filled the gap.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a cease-fire to all conflicts around the world on March 23 to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, and at separate Security Council meetings Wednesday on Syria’s political and humanitarian situation there was widespread support for his appeal.

Pedersen welcomed the fact that there has been "significant calm in many areas of Syria," with no all-out offensives since early March.

He said Russian-Turkish arrangements have taken hold in the northwest, the last opposition stronghold, and cease-fire arrangements between Russia, Turkey and the United States in the northeast "also continue to broadly hold."

He said the calm was "uneasy and fragile" and there is a constant risk of things escalating.

He appealed for a cease-fire "that results in sustained calm and is nationwide in scope – one that does not see new assaults across lines of contact, and enables Syrians to access equipment and resources necessary to combat COVID-19."

But Russia and the U.S. disagreed about who should be in the lead in pursuing a cease-fire and an end to the Syrian conflict.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council that the foreign ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey – the guarantor states in the "Astana process" aimed at ending the Syria conflict – held a video conference on April 22 and "underscored the leading role of Astana in promoting a Syrian settlement."

He said this includes stabilizing the situation in the country, dealing with refugees, resolving humanitarian problems and promoting dialogue among Syrians in the committee that is to draft a new constitution.

Nebenzia said the ministers of Russia and Iran, who support Bashar Assad, and Turkey, which backs the opposition, would prepare for the next Astana summit.

The acting U.S. deputy ambassador, Cherith Norman Chalet, said the U.N. "must be at the center of any effort to establish a comprehensive, enduring and verifiable nationwide cease-fire."

France’s U.N. Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere also stressed that the U.N. must be "at the forefront" of cease-fire efforts.

He called for a broader political process than just the constitutional committee and told the council that "France is deeply concerned about the growing instability everywhere in Syria."