Volunteers make food in Damascus, capital of Syria, May 5, 2020. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Syrian volunteers cook meals during the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan, not only for poor people but also for medical workers. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)

 Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Syrian volunteers start cooking meals during the holy month of Ramadan, not only for the poor people but also for the medical teams who spend long hours in hospitals and medical centers.

Known as the Saed Team, or Help, young volunteers, gather during the Ramadan to cook the Iftar meal, or breakfast, every day.

This year they have new beneficiaries, which are the medical teams and those quarantined in medical centers.

Syria has so far recorded 47 COVID-19 infections, including 29 recoveries and three deaths. Hundreds are placed in quarantine for further tests.

A volunteer makes food in Damascus, capital of Syria, May 5, 2020. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Syrian volunteers cook meals during the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan, not only for poor people but also for medical workers. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)

 Wearing blue masks and gloves, tens of volunteers come every day to a kitchen set up in the Mazzeh area west of Damascus and start cooking and packing meals.

This year they work in a closed kitchen due to the spread of the COVID-19, unlike previous years when they cooked in an open place in the old city of Damascus.

The volunteers observe all cleaning methods from their outfit to the cleanness of the dishes and the kitchen tools to ensure a clean meal for the medical teams as well as for the poor people.

Salam al-Ahmad, a volunteer, who works for a real estate agency, told Xinhua that this year the measures are different due to the coronavirus outbreak and their responsibility is bigger to make sure everything is clean.

For Muhammad Siwar, who is a university student and a volunteer, helping the medical teams with meals is the least he can do. He said these people sacrifice their time and wellbeing to help others and they should be helped back.

Abdul-Aziz al-Habbal, a supervisor, told Xinhua that the atmosphere is so positive among the volunteers. He said these people establish good relations with one another and learn new things every day.

A volunteer makes food in Damascus, capital of Syria, May 5, 2020. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Syrian volunteers cook meals during the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan, not only for poor people but also for medical workers. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)

 Al-Habbal also noted that they do over 1,000 meals every day and they challenge themselves to do more. Last year, they finished Ramadan with 7,000 meals per day, he said.

The supervisor stressed that maintaining a clean environment is essential this year with the outbreak of coronavirus.

"We also observed all health measures to ensure the food is clean because we do care about the health of the volunteers who are helping us as well as the health of the people who receive the meals," he said.