Egyptian Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said the country’s first fatality was a 60-year-old German man who had a high temperature when he arrived in Hurghada on Friday from the city of Luxor.
The man went to a hospital in Hurghada that evening and tested positive for the coronavirus. He was placed in intensive care, as he was suffering from respiratory failure caused by an acute pneumonia, the spokesman said.
The man refused to be moved to another hospital for quarantine; his condition deteriorated, and he died yesterday.
Egypt has 48 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, including 45 infected passengers on a Nile cruise ship in southern Egypt.
In Iran, 49 new fatalities were registered, taking the death toll there to 194 as the virus continued to spread throughout the Middle East.
As many as 6,566 people are infected in Iran, a jump of 743 compared to the previous day, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said yesterday.
Some 1,800 people have the virus in the capital Tehran alone.
The spokesman urged Iranians not to travel to the provinces and to stay home to avoid unleashing a new wave of infections.
His warning came as millions of Iranians plan trips to the provinces to celebrate Persian new year. Police have set up road blocks on motorways and main roads to almost all of the country’s provinces.
People can still travel to Tehran, however.
Jahanpur added that 2,134 patients have recovered from the virus and been released from hospital.
Although Iran’s authorities are trying to avoid using the word, these measures are in effect a quarantine.
AIRLINE SUSPENDS
FLIGHTS TO EUROPE
Also yesterday, Iranian state airline Iran Air suspended flights to Europe, a spokeswoman for the country’s civil aviation authorities said, according to a report on state-run news agency IRNA. “For reasons unknown to us, European countries have limited Iran Air flights and so we have suspended all flights until further notice,” the spokeswoman said.
She added that Iran Air is carrying out negotiations in order to lift the restrictions on its flights. Most coronavirus cases reported in the Gulf countries have been linked to trips to Iran, an epicentre of the disease outside China.
Saudi Arabia imposed a temporary lockdown yesterday on the eastern oil-producing province of Qatif, home to all 11 people in the kingdom who have tested positive for the coronavirus, and suspended all schools and universities nationwide, Reuters reported from Dubai.
The interior ministry announced the lockdown in Qatif, after the four latest cases were confirmed in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi authorities have previously said those infected have either been to Iran or had contact with people who visited the Islamic Republic, home to holy sites.
Riyadh denounced Tehran on Thursday for granting Saudi citizens entry during the coronavirus outbreak.
Saudi Arabia has banned travel to Iran, which has reported 194 coronavirus deaths, and said legal action would be taken against any Saudi national travelling there.
“Work at all public and private institutions is halted as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the disease, with the exception of vital facilities that provide security services and necessary provisions,” a ministry statement said.
Cement blocks were placed on the main road to Qatif, one resident said.
Other residents reported a rush on grocery shops in Qatif after the lockdown began.
The Saudi government restricted land crossings with the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain to commercial trucks only yesterday and said passenger arrivals would be limited to three Saudi airports.
Riyadh also said it was suspending all public and private schools and universities across the country from today until further notice, state media said, adding that distance learning measures would be implemented..
Bahrain said its Formula One Grand Prix would go ahead this month without spectators, a blow to its tourism sector, and it has now confirmed 85 cases of the virus.
In Kuwait, the overall number of confirmed infections rose to 64 after the Health Ministry reported three additional cases.
Fears of the virus have prompted Kuwait to close educational institutions and restrict travel to other countries.
In neighbouring Iraq, the Health Ministry reported yesterday two new deaths from the virus, raising the total number of fatalities to six.
Around the world, more than 100,000 people have contracted the new strain of coronavirus, which began spreading in the industrial hub of Wuhan, in China’s Hubei province, in December.
Some 3,500 people have died. Older people and those with underlying health issues are more vulnerable to the pneumonia-like illness, while others may be infected but show few or no symptoms.
LEBANON’S TALLY AT 32
Lebanon yesterday confirmed four new coronavirus cases, taking the overall tally to 32, QNA reported from Beirut.
A statement issued by the state-run Rafik Hariri University Hospital said that it had received 100 cases at its coronavirus section over the past 24 hours.
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