Coronavirus impact on Middle East grows

Iranian pedestrians walk while wearing protective masks in Tehran on March 10, 2020 amid the spread of coronavirus in the country. (File/AFP)
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Updated 12 March 2020
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Coronavirus impact on Middle East grows

  • Iran reports 63 new virus deaths, taking the total to 354
  • In Kuwait, three new cases were confirmed in the past 24 hours

DUBAI: As the Middle East continues to grapple with the coronavirus outbreak, governments in the region and around the world have been taking extra precautions to prevent the spread of the virus.

Wednesday, March 11 (All times in GMT)

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21:25 - A high-profile four-team international football tournament in Doha this month has been canceled due to fears over the coronavirus outbreak, the Croatian Football Federation said on Wednesday.

Croatia were due to feature alongside Portugal, Belgium and Switzerland from March 26-30 in preparation for the Euro 2020 finals to be staged in 12 venues across Europe starting in June.

20:50 - Italy's prime minister Giuseppe Conte announced on Wednesday that his government was shutting all stores except pharmacies and food shops in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus.

19:45 - Saudi Arabia has called on people to avoid gatherings exceeding 50 people and to refrain from shaking hands with each other to prevent the spread of the virus.

The first recovery from the virus in the Kingdom was also announced on Wednesday, with the patient discharged from a hospital in Qatif.

18:03 - Iraqi semi-autonomous Kurdistan regions bans Kurdish Nowruz festivals due to coronavirus fears - statement.

17:25 - Saudi Arabia has closed cinemas in the Kingdom until further notice due to coronavirus fears. 

16:41 - Expressing increasing alarm about mounting infections, the World Health Organization declared Wednesday that the global coronavirus crisis is now a pandemic.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who heads the U.N. agency, said the WHO is “deeply concerned by the alarming levels of spread and severity” of the outbreak. He also expressed concern about “the alarming levels of inaction.”

16:36 -  The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, which has borne the brunt of a nationwide contagion, has risen over the past day to 617 from 468, two sources with access to the data said on Wednesday.
One of the sources said the number of new cases in the region, which includes Italy's financial capital Milan, had risen by 1,489 over the past 24 hours.




People line up at a grocery store in the town of Codogno, in the region of Lombardy, northern Italy, Wednesday, Mar. 11, 2020. (AP)

16:12 - Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said that all flights to Iran as well as China, South Korea and Italy are to stop.




Lebanese men wearing protective masks look at rosaries offered by a street vendor on a shopping street in the Lebanese capital Beirut, on Mar. 11, 2020, amid fears from the coronavirus outbreak. (AFP)

15:59 - Sweden on Wednesday reported its first death from the new coronavirus, health officials said, the first person in the Nordic region to die from the outbreak sweeping the globe.
The victim was an elderly patient with an underlying illness being treated in the intensive care unit of a hospital in the capital, the Region Stockholm health authority said in a statement.

15:45 - Qatar has recorded 238 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday meaning the total number in the country is 262, according to the country's news agency.

15:30 - Egypt is to cancel all large events and gatherings in a bid to check the spread of the deadly coronavirus. FULL ARAB NEWS STORY HERE.

The Egyptian government’s decision has sparked controversy in the country where 60 cases of the COVID-19 infection have been recorded, so far resulting in one death.

15:25 - Kuwait to declare public holiday from March 12 till March 26 due to coronavirus outbreak - state news agency.

15:10 - Kuwait on Wednesday announced it will suspend commercial flights to and from Kuwait International Airport from Friday until further notice.
Arrival trips of Kuwaiti passengers and their close relatives will be restricted, with the exception of cargo planes, a statement issued on the Kuwait News Agency said.

14:35 - US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said China did not initially handle the coronavirus outbreak properly and this likely cost the world two months when it could have prepared and dramatically curtailed the outbreak.

14:30 - The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Lebanon is 61, the health ministry said on Wednesday.




People pass in front the emergency entrance of the government-run Rafik Hariri University Hospital, where most of the Lebanese coronavirus cases are treated, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Mar. 11, 2020. (AP)

14:15 -  The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus across the United Kingdom has risen to 456, up from 373 a day earlier, the health ministry said on Wednesday.




People wear protective face masks as they walk outside Parliament in London, Wednesday, Mar. 11, 2020. (AP)

13:30 - Saudi Arabia’s Embassy in Lebanon said two flights have been organized in coordination with Middle East Airlines to evacuate Saudi citizens and their families who wish to leave the country over coronavirus fears. 

One of the flights will leave for King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh at 8 a.m. on Saturday and the other will leave for King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah on Sunday at  8 a.m.

13:00 – Finance minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday he would set aside $6.5 billion (£5 billion) to help Britain’s National Health Service and other public services tackle the coronavirus outbreak. In his first annual budget statement to parliament, Sunak said he would go “further if necessary”.

11:00 – The third death related to coronavirus in Germany has been confirmed.

10:50 – Iran reported 63 new virus deaths, taking the total to 354, and infection cases now at 9,000.

10:15 – Morocco announced two new coronavirus cases, involving the wife and daughter of a French tourist who was earlier contracted COVID-19. They were both quarantined for two days before testing positive for the virus.

10:00 – The Philippines has reported 6 new COVID-19 patients, bringing the total number of those who have been infected to 49.




A government worker disinfects a high school in Manila, Philippines on March 9, 2020. (AFP)

10:00 – Lebanon announced eight new cases of coronavirus infections, and a second death from the virus.

09:30 – Beijing on Wednesday ordered people arriving in the city from any country to go into 14-day quarantine as China reported an increase in imported coronavirus cases, threatening its progress against the epidemic. China has made major strides in its battle against the virus, prompting President Xi Jinping to visit Wuhan, the central city at the heart of the global epidemic, on Tuesday and declare that it has “basically curbed” the spread of the disease.

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09:05 – Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr said he would reject any coronavirus treatment produced by the US.

08:40 – Iraqi Kurdistan regional officials said nationals have four days to return from Iran before borders are closed.

08:25 Belgium reported its first coronavirus death, a patient who was 90 years old, according to Belga news agency.

The outbreak of the virus in Iran is one of the deadliest outside of China, where the disease originated.
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08:10 – Iraq canceled Friday prayers in the Shiite holy city of Kerbala due to concerns about the coronavirus, a statement from the administration of the city’s holy site said on Wednesday.
Kerbala, like the neighboring holy city of Najaf, attracts Shiites pilgrims from Iraq and abroad. Prayers had already been canceled last Friday.

07:50 – Bahrain has quarantined 77 of the 165 people who have been evacuated from Iran, after they tested positive for the virus.

07:45 – Three new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in the past 24 hours, the Kuwait health ministry said, bringing the total to 72. About 916 people have also been quarantined as a precaution against the spread of the virus. Thousands of volunteers are helping to control the spread of the virus in the country, health officials added. Kuwaiti officials likewise advised residents and citizens to avoid travel and warned against wrong information and fake news, and advised everyone to only rely on official announcements.

07:25 – Thailand on Wednesday cancelled the grant of visa on arrival for 18 countries and visa exemption for three others to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the country’s interior minister said.

Previously, nationals of 18 countries or territories could use their passports or travel documents to apply for Visa on Arrival at Thai immigration checkpoints.

The 18 places include Bulgaria, Bhutan, China (including Taiwan), Cyprus, Ethiopia, Fiji, Georgia, India, Kazakhstan, Malta, Mexico, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Vanuatu.

07:15 – In Oman, the Director General of Medical Services of the Royal Oman Police said that an integrated medical team will operate the mobile police hospital to deal with coronavirus cases in the country. The mobile hospital includes an intensive care unit and a laboratory for tests, he said.

“In cooperation with the Ministry of Health, the police are working on epidemiological monitoring of upcoming cases through outlets,” he added.

06:50  Iraq has announced its second coronavirus death in Kerbala.

06:05 – Indonesia has announced its first coronavirus death in the country.

00:10 – Bolivia has confirmed its first two cases of coronavirus, Health Minister Anibal Cruz said in a public address.

Tuesday, March 10 (All times in GMT)

19:45 – Turkey announced its first coronavirus case, a man who had recently travelled to Europe and is in good health.

“The test of a patient suspected of carrying the coronavirus returned positive,” Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a television broadcast.

He added that the man was likely to have contracted COVID-19 while travelling in Europe, but declined to say which country or where in Turkey the patient had been hospitalized.

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

18:35 – In Oman, the Diwan of Royal Court issued a statement saying a committee will be formed to handle the developments resulting from coronavirus. The statement said the committee will monitor the spread of the virus and regional and international efforts taken to combat it. The committee will also follow up all procedures taken to control the spread of the virus, the statement added.

16:20 – Bahrain’s Ministry of Health announced the recovery of eight individuals from the coronavirus. The announcement brings the total number of confirmed recoveries to 30.

16:15 – In Tunisia, a sixth confirmed coronavirus case was announced on Tuesday evening, after the results of tests carried out on 44 people suspected of carrying the virus were disclosed.


US strike on Yemen fuel port kills at least 58, Houthi media say

Updated 56 min 9 sec ago
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US strike on Yemen fuel port kills at least 58, Houthi media say

  • The US has vowed not to halt the large-scale strikes begun last month, unless the Houthis cease attacks on Red Sea shipping

WASHINGTON: US strikes on a fuel port in Yemen killed at least 58 people, Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said, one of the deadliest since the United States began its attacks on the Iran-backed militants.

The United States has vowed not to halt the large-scale strikes begun last month in its biggest military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January, unless the Houthis cease attacks on Red Sea shipping.

Al Masirah TV said 126 people were also wounded in Thursday’s strikes on the western fuel port of Ras Isa, which the US military said aimed to cut off a source of fuel for the Houthi militant group.

Responding to a Reuters query for comment on the Houthis’ casualty figure and its own estimate, the US Central Command said it had none beyond the initial announcement of the attacks.

“The objective of these strikes was to degrade the economic source of power of the Houthis, who continue to exploit and bring great pain upon their fellow countrymen,” it had said in a post on X.

Since November 2023, the Houthis have launched dozens of drone and missile attacks on vessels transiting the waterway, saying they were targeting ships linked to Israel in protest over the war in Gaza.

They halted attacks on shipping lanes during a two-month ceasefire in Gaza. Although they vowed to resume strikes after Israel renewed its assault on Gaza last month, they have not claimed any since.

In March, two days of US attacks killed more than 50 people, Houthi officials said.


Lebanon says one killed in a renewed Israeli strike near Sidon

Updated 18 April 2025
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Lebanon says one killed in a renewed Israeli strike near Sidon

  • Israel has continued to carry out near-daily strikes in Lebanon

Beirut: Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike on Friday hit a vehicle near the southern coastal city of Sidon, killing one person.
Despite a November 27 ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of conflict — including two months of all-out war — between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel has continued to carry out near-daily strikes in Lebanon.
“The attack carried out by the Israeli enemy against a car on the Sidon-Ghaziyeh road resulted in one dead,” said a health ministry statement on the fourth consecutive day of Israeli attacks on the south where Israel says it has targeted Hezbollah militants.
An AFP journalist said the Israeli attack hit a four-wheel-drive vehicle, sending a pillar of black smoke into the sky.
The Lebanese army sealed off the area as firemen fought the blaze.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the strike, but the Israeli military has said it was behind previous attacks this week that it said killed members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.
Hezbollah, significantly weakened by the war, insists it is adhering to the November ceasefire, even as Israeli attacks persist.

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Gaza rescuers say 15 killed in Israeli strikes

Updated 27 min 1 sec ago
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Gaza rescuers say 15 killed in Israeli strikes

  • On Thursday the civil defense agency reported the deaths of at least 40 residents in Israeli strikes

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Friday that 15 people, including 10 from the same family, had been killed in two overnight Israeli strikes.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said on Telegram that “our crews recovered the bodies of 10 martyrs and a large number of wounded from the house of the Baraka family and the neighboring houses targeted by the Israeli occupation forces in the Bani Suhaila area east of Khan Yunis,” in the southern Gaza Strip.
Bassal later announced that a separate strike hit two houses in northern Gaza’s Tal Al-Zaatar, where crews had “recovered the bodies of five people.”

Israeli strikes hit dozens of targets in Gaza

Israeli airstrikes hit around 40 targets across the Gaza Strip over the past day, the military said on Friday, hours after Hamas rejected an Israeli ceasefire offer that it said fell short of its demand to agree a full end to the war.
Last month, the Israeli military broke off a two-month truce that had largely halted fighting in Gaza and has since pushed in from the north and south, seizing almost a third of the enclave as it seeks to pressure Hamas into agreeing to release hostages and disarm.
The military said troops were operating in the Shabura and Tel Al-Sultan areas near the southern city of Rafah, as well as in northern Gaza, where it has taken control of large areas east of Gaza City.
Egyptian mediators have been trying to revive the January ceasefire deal, which broke down when Israel resumed airstrikes and sent ground troops back into Gaza, but there has been little sign that the two sides have moved closer on fundamental issues.
Late on Thursday, Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
But he dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. The ceasefire offer it made through Egyptian mediators includes talks on a final settlement to the war but no firm agreement.
Defense Minister Israel Katz also said this week that troops would remain in the buffer zone around the border that now extends deep into Gaza and cuts the enclave in two, even after any settlement.


Israeli military intercepts missile launched from Yemen

Updated 18 April 2025
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Israeli military intercepts missile launched from Yemen

  • Iran-backed Houthi militia have regularly fired missiles and drones targeting Israel

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said Friday it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, from where the Iran-backed Houthi militia have regularly fired missiles and drones targeting Israel.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted,” Israel’s army said on Telegram, adding that aerial defense systems had been deployed “to intercept the threat.”


Cash crunch leaves Syrians queueing for hours to collect salaries

Updated 18 April 2025
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Cash crunch leaves Syrians queueing for hours to collect salaries

  • Syria has been struggling to emerge from the wake of nearly 14 years of civil war, and its banking sector is no exception
  • The liquidity crisis has forced authorities to drastically limit cash withdrawals, leaving much of the population struggling to make ends meet

DAMASCUS: Seated on the pavement outside a bank in central Damascus, Abu Fares’s face is worn with exhaustion as he waits to collect a small portion of his pension.
“I’ve been here for four hours and I haven’t so much as touched my pension,” said the 77-year-old, who did not wish to give his full name.
“The cash dispensers are under-stocked and the queues are long,” he continued.
Since the overthrow of president Bashar Assad last December, Syria has been struggling to emerge from the wake of nearly 14 years of civil war, and its banking sector is no exception.
Decades of punishing sanctions imposed on the Assad dynasty – which the new authorities are seeking to have lifted – have left about 90 percent of Syrians under the poverty line, according to the United Nations.
The liquidity crisis has forced authorities to drastically limit cash withdrawals, leaving much of the population struggling to make ends meet.
Prior to his ousting, Assad’s key ally Russia held a monopoly on printing banknotes. The new authorities have only announced once that they have received a shipment of banknotes from Moscow since Assad’s overthrow.
In a country with about 1.25 million public sector employees, civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs to make withdrawals, capped at about 200,000 Syrian pounds, the equivalent on the black market of $20 per day.
In some cases, they have to take a day off just to wait for the cash.
“There are sick people, elderly... we can’t continue like this,” said Abu Fares.
“There is a clear lack of cash, and for that reason we deactivate the ATMs at the end of the workday,” an employee at a private bank said, preferring not to give her name.
A haphazard queue of about 300 people stretches outside the Commercial Bank of Syria. Some are sitting on the ground.
Afraa Jumaa, a civil servant, said she spends most of the money she withdraws on the travel fare to get to and from the bank.
“The conditions are difficult and we need to withdraw our salaries as quickly as possible,” said the 43-year-old.
“It’s not acceptable that we have to spend days to withdraw meagre sums.”
The local currency has plunged in value since the civil war erupted in 2011, prior to which the dollar was valued at 50 pounds.
Economist Georges Khouzam explained that foreign exchange vendors – whose work was outlawed under Assad – “deliberately reduced cash flows in Syrian pounds to provoke rapid fluctuations in the market and turn a profit.”
Muntaha Abbas, a 37-year-old civil servant, had to return three times to withdraw her entire salary of 500,000 pounds.
“There are a lot of ATMs in Damascus, but very few of them work,” she said.
After a five-hour wait, she was finally able to withdraw 200,000 pounds.
“Queues and more queues... our lives have become a series of queues,” she lamented.