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.


Libya’s anti-NGO push seen as diversion from internal failures, analysts say

Updated 5 sec ago
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Libya’s anti-NGO push seen as diversion from internal failures, analysts say

Anas Al-Gomati, director of the Tripoli-based Sadeq Institute think tank, said “this isn’t about NGOs — it’s about creating enemies to distract from failures“
Libya analyst Jalel Harchaoui noted that the Tripoli government is adopting a similar tone to Tunisian President Kais Saied

TUNIS: Libya’s suspension of 10 international humanitarian groups, part of a broader crackdown on African migrants, is aimed at masking domestic failures and securing external concessions, particularly from Europe, analysts have said.
Libya’s Tripoli-based authorities announced on Wednesday a decision to suspend the Norwegian Refugee Council, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Terre des Hommes, CESVI and six other groups, accusing them of a plan to “settle migrants” from other parts of Africa in the country.
War-torn Libya is a key departure point on North Africa’s Mediterranean coast for migrants, mainly from sub-Saharan African countries, risking dangerous sea voyages in the hope of reaching Europe.
Anas Al-Gomati, director of the Tripoli-based Sadeq Institute think tank, said “this isn’t about NGOs — it’s about creating enemies to distract from failures.”
The UN-recognized government of Abdulhamid Dbeibah is “tapping into conservative anxieties while masking their inability to provide basic services,” he told AFP.
Libya has struggled to recover from the chaos that followed the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that overthrew longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi.
It remains split between the UN-recognized government in Tripoli and a rival authority in the east, backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
The ultimate goal, according to Gomati, is to “extract concessions from Europe which, fearing potential migration surges, will offer new funding packages and prop up the government in Tripoli.”
On Wednesday, Rome announced the allocation of 20 million euros to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to finance “voluntary repatriations” for 3,300 sub-Saharan migrants who arrived in Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.
“This isn’t coincidence — its coordination. The Libyan authorities shut down NGOs providing monitoring and protection (for migrants) precisely as Italy announces 20 million euros for ‘voluntary’ returns,” said Gomati.
“Italy gets to claim they’re funding ‘voluntary’ returns while Libya gets to demonstrate ‘sovereignty’, all while vulnerable migrants face extortion in detention before being labelled ‘volunteers’ for deportation.”
Libya analyst Jalel Harchaoui noted that the Tripoli government is adopting a similar tone to Tunisian President Kais Saied, who in early 2023 denounced what he called “hordes of sub-Saharan migrants” who threatened to “change the country’s demographic composition.”
Harchaoui, of the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said Dbeibah was facing considerable difficulties, particularly in gaining access to public funds, and his once pragmatic relationship with the Haftar family in the east had deteriorated.
The two rivals had previously struck a kind of non-aggression pact in exchange for sharing oil revenues.
“In its bid to assert control and project strength, the Dbeibah government has turned to demonizing sub-Saharan migrants and denouncing NGOs,” Harchaoui said.
This aims to “show who’s in charge in Tripoli and create the illusion that he is curbing migration flows.”
Exiled Libyan human rights activist Husam el-Gomati said on X that “this crackdown appears not only to limit the influence of these organizations but also to prevent the documentation of human rights violations and delay any potential punitive measures against militia leaders involved in these abuses.”
Various reports from the United Nations and NGOs such as Amnesty International have denounced the arbitrary detentions of government opponents, journalists and lawyers in recent months, as well as abuses against migrants, including the discovery of mass graves.
Following the NGO ban, aid groups have expressed concern for both their Libyan colleagues and the migrants who have been made more vulnerable in a country that, according to the IOM, is home to more than 700,000 residents from sub-Saharan countries.
The International Commission of Jurists on Friday condemned the “recent collective expulsions, arrests, violent attacks and the surge of hate speech, including that which constitutes incitement to violence, against migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Libya.”
The organization noted that the Libyan interior ministry has pledged “the deportation of 100,000 migrants every four months.”

Lebanese officials discuss south Lebanon with visiting US envoy

Updated 19 min 29 sec ago
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Lebanese officials discuss south Lebanon with visiting US envoy

BEIRUT: Senior Lebanese officials said Saturday’s talks with visiting US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus were positive, focusing on south Lebanon amid a fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah.
President Joseph Aoun and Ortagus discussed “south Lebanon, the work of the international monitoring committee and the Israeli withdrawal” from Lebanese territory, a statement from the presidency said, characterising the talks as constructive.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s office, in a statement, also said the discussions with the envoy were “positive.”
Ortagus’s second visit to Lebanon after her appointment by US President Donald Trump comes as Israel continues to carry out strikes in Lebanon despite a November 27 ceasefire with Hezbollah, and as its troops remain in several points in the country’s south.
The United States chairs a committee, which also includes France, that is tasked with overseeing the ceasefire that ended more than a year of hostilities including two months of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Under the truce, Hezbollah was to redeploy its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
Israel was due to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops in five places it deems “strategic.”
Lebanon’s army has been deploying in areas the Israeli military has withdrawn from.
Ortagus and Salam discussed the Lebanese army’s work in implementing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah and formed the basis of the November truce, his office said.
The resolution says Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon, and called for the disarmament of all non-state armed groups.
Ortagus also met on Saturday with parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a key Hezbollah ally, and army chief Rodolphe Haykal.
On her first visit in February, Ortagus sparked anger among Hezbollah supporters by saying the group had been “defeated by Israel,” declaring “the end of Hezbollah’s reign of terror.”
The Iran-backed group was heavily weakened during the war with Israel, but remains active.
Last month, Ortagus told Lebanese TV channel Al-Jadeed that the US and France had set up working groups that would address the border disputes between the two countries, as well as Israel’s continued presence south Lebanon.
“We want to get a political resolution, finally, to the border disputes,” Ortagus had said.


Israel is trying to destabilize Lebanon and Syria, Arab League chief laments

Updated 33 min 26 sec ago
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Israel is trying to destabilize Lebanon and Syria, Arab League chief laments

  • Aboul Gheit says targeted assassinations in Lebanon an unacceptable breach of the ceasefire agreement Israel signed late last year
  • Israel’s actions were driven by narrow domestic agendas at the expense of civilian lives and regional peace, Arab League chief adds

CAIRO: Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Saturday accused Israel of trying to destabilize Syria and Lebanon through military provocations, in “flagrant disregard for international legal norms.”

In a statement, Aboul Gheit said that global inaction had further emboldened Israel.

“(T)he wars waged by Israel on the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Syria have entered a new phase of complete recklessness, deliberately violating signed agreements, invading countries and killing more civilians,” said the statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.

He said that Israel’s resumption of targeted assassinations in Lebanon was an unacceptable and condemnable breach of the ceasefire agreement it signed with Lebanon late last year. 

Aboul Gheit said that Israel’s actions were driven by narrow domestic agendas at the expense of civilian lives and regional peace.

“It seems that the Israeli war machine does not want to stop as long as the occupation leaders insist on facing their internal crises by exporting them abroad, and this situation has become clear to everyone,” he said.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health’s count last week, more than 50,000 people have been killed and more than 113,200 wounded in Israeli attacks on Palestinian territories in retaliation against the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel.

In Lebanon, war monitors have said that at least 3,961 people were killed and 16,520 wounded in Israel’s war with the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement from Oct. 8, 2023 to Nov. 26, 2024.

Syria’s new government accused Israel on April 3 of mounting a deadly destabilization campaign after a wave of strikes on military targets, including an airport, and a ground incursion that killed 13 people in the southern province of Daraa. 


Video shows last moments for slain Gaza aid workers, Red Crescent says

Updated 41 min 11 sec ago
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Video shows last moments for slain Gaza aid workers, Red Crescent says

  • Video appears to contradict the Israeli military’s claims, showing ambulances traveling with their headlights and emergency lights clearly flashing

GAZA: A video recovered from the cellphone of an aid worker killed in Gaza alongside other rescuers shows their final moments, according to the Palestine Red Crescent, with clearly marked ambulances and emergency lights flashing as heavy gunfire erupts.
The aid worker was among 15 humanitarian personnel who were killed on March 23 in an attack by Israeli forces, according to the United Nations and the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
The Israeli military has said its soldiers “did not randomly attack” any ambulances, insisting they fired on “terrorists” approaching them in “suspicious vehicles.”
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said that troops opened fire on vehicles that had no prior clearance from Israeli authorities and had their lights off.
But the video released by PRCS on Saturday appears to contradict the Israeli military’s claims, showing ambulances traveling with their headlights and emergency lights clearly flashing.
The video, apparently filmed from inside a moving vehicle, captures a red firetruck and ambulances driving through the night.
The vehicles stop beside another on the roadside, and two uniformed men exit. Moments later, intense gunfire erupts.
In the video, the voices of two medics are heard — one saying, “the vehicle, the vehicle,” and another responding: “It seems to be an accident.”
Seconds later, a volley of gunfire breaks out, and the screen goes black.
PRCS said it had found the video on the phone of Rifat Radwan, one of the deceased aid workers.
“This video unequivocally refutes the occupation’s claims that Israeli forces did not randomly target ambulances, and that some vehicles had approached suspiciously without lights or emergency markings,” PRCS said in a statement.
“The footage exposes the truth and dismantles this false narrative.”
Those killed included eight PRCS staff, six members of the Gaza civil defense agency and one employee of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, also known as UNRWA.
Their bodies were found buried near Rafah in what the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) described as a mass grave.

This image grab from a handout video reportedly recovered from the cellphone of an aid worker killed in Gaza alongside other rescuers and released by the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS)on April 5, 2025, shows a fire truck and rescuers running toward a vehicle in Rafah in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the PRCS. (AFP)



ATTACK ON AID WORKERS
OCHA has said that the first team was targeted by Israeli forces at dawn on that day. In the hours that followed, additional rescue and aid teams searching for their colleagues were also struck in a series of successive attacks.
According to the PRCS, the convoy had been dispatched in response to emergency calls from civilians trapped under bombardment in Rafah.
In the video, a medic recording the scene can be heard reciting the Islamic declaration of faith, the shahada, which Muslims traditionally say in the face of death.
“There is no God but God, Mohammed is his messenger,” he says repeatedly, his voice trembling with fear as intense gunfire continues in the background.
He is also heard saying: “Forgive me mother because I chose this way, the way of helping people.”
He then says, “accept my martyrdom, God, and forgive me.” Just before the footage ends, he is heard saying, “The Jews are coming, the Jews are coming,” referring to Israeli soldiers.
The deaths of the aid workers has sparked international condemnation.
Jonathan Whittall, the head of OCHA in the Palestinian territories, said the bodies of the humanitarian workers were “in their uniforms, still wearing gloves” when they were found.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, condemned the attack, raising concerns over possible “war crimes” by the Israeli military.
“I am appalled by the recent killings of 15 medical personnel and humanitarian aid workers, which raise further concerns over the commission of war crimes by the Israeli military,” Volker Turk told the UN Security Council on Thursday.
Turk called for an “independent, prompt and thorough investigation” into the attack.
An Israeli military official said the bodies had been covered “in sand and cloth” to avoid damage until coordination with international organizations could be arranged for their retrieval.
The military said it was investigating the attack.


Iran president fires deputy over pricey Antarctica trip

Updated 05 April 2025
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Iran president fires deputy over pricey Antarctica trip

  • A photo shared on social media showed Dabiri posing near the Plancius cruise ship
  • The government faced strong criticism after the photo was published

TEHRAN: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday dismissed his deputy for parliamentary affairs over a costly trip to Antarctica, as the country grapples with hyperinflation amid a biting economic crisis.
A photo shared on social media in recent days showed the now former vice president, Shahram Dabiri, alongside a woman identified as his wife, posing near the Plancius cruise ship.
The Dutch-flagged vessel has offered luxury expeditions to Antarctica since 2009, with one agency pricing an eight-day trip at 3,885 euros per person.
“In a context where economic pressure on the population remains high... expensive leisure trips by officials, even if paid out of their own pocket, are neither defensible nor justifiable,” the Iranian president wrote in a letter published Saturday by the official IRNA news agency, which noted that Dabiri was dismissed.
Dabiri, a 64-year-old physician by profession and a close confidant of Pezeshkian, had been appointed to the post in August.
The government faced strong criticism after the photo was published, and several of Pezeshkian’s supporters urged him to remove the official.
IRNA late last month cited a source in Dabiri’s office as saying that he had made the trip before he held a governmental position.
The controversy is another major blow for Pezeshkian, who was elected last year on a promise to revive the economy and improve the daily lives of his fellow citizens.
In early March, his Economy Minister Abdolnasser Hemmati was dismissed by parliament amid a sharp depreciation of the national currency against the dollar and soaring inflation.