LIVE: Middle East coronavirus alert continues, global cases rise - Arabnews

DUBAI: Countries across the Middle East were on high alert as the disease continues to spread around the world. Governments have asked people to follow precautionary measures to help prevent the spread of the virus, including avoiding crowded public spaces.

Sunday, March 08 (All times in GMT)

10:03 – Indonesia confirmed on Sunday that two more people had tested positive for the coronavirus, taking the total of confirmed cases in the country to six.
One of the Indonesians is a 36-year-old male, a crew member on the Japan-docked Diamond Princess cruise ship where he contracted the virus, Health Ministry official Achmad Yurianto told a news briefing.

09:10 – Saudi Arabia’s health ministry announces four new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total to 11. Three of them were in contact with a previous case who had traveled from Iran.

08:30 - Bahrain says its Formula One race this month will be for ‘participants only’ without spectators over coronavirus fears.

07:43 - Kuwait announced a new coronavirus case, bringing the total number to 62.

05:12 - Italy has closed cinemas, theatres, museums nationwide in virus lockdown, a government official said.

04:42 - More than 15 million people were placed under forced quarantine in northern Italy early Sunday as the government approved drastic measures in an attempt to halt the spread of the deadly coronavirus that is sweeping the globe.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Twitter he had signed off on plans to strictly limit movement in and out of large areas including Venice and the financial capital Milan for nearly a month.

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03:50 - In Oman, chartered flights between the country and Egypt have been suspended for a month, the Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA) announced.

"After coordination with the competent authorities, the Public Authority suspended irregular (chartered) flights between the Sultanate and the Arab Republic of Egypt, starting Sunday, for a period of one month,” PACA said in a statement.

Saturday, March 07 (All times in GMT)

19:41 - The UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention held a press conference on Saturday to discuss the preventive measures it took against the spread of coronavirus in the country.

The ministry explained the procedures taken with regards to the UAE Tour’s participants. The quarantined contacts included 26 hotel visitors, 56 athletes and 236 hotel staff, the ministry said.

The ministry added that over 620 school buildings and 6,000 buses were sterilised.

Meanwhile, more than 168,000 students started to benefit from the pilot programme across the country, the ministry said.

_{This video explaining how COVID-19 transmits person to person was produced by the World Health Organisation}

17:51 - Kuwait’s health ministry has denied rumors on social media about the death of an elderly woman from the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.

15:32 - Kuwait's health ministry called on people arriving from seven countries to observe a mandatory 14-day home quarantine from the date of departure.

The seven countries are: India, Bangladesh, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt.

11:50 - Oman's Ministry of Health said it had decided to postpone all international conferences and events.

"Within the framework of the efforts exerted by the Ministry to tackle the Coronavirus disease, the Ministry has recommended the suspension of all gatherings, events, and international conferences in the Sultanate, which hosts participants from outside the Sultanate until further notice," Ministry of Health said.

2020-03-08 07:44:02Z
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1638396/middle-east