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Qatar has confirmed its first case of coronavirus, state media reported
on Saturday, after a 36-year-old Qatari man who was evacuated to Doha
from Iran tested positive.
Qatar on Thursday repatriated a number of its citizens from Iran — which
is battling the worst outbreak outside China — and confined them to a
14-day period of quarantine, the government said.
The health ministry said the infected patient had been admitted to hospital.
“This had been expected because of the virus’s spread across the region
and other countries, alongside the exponential increase in the number of
cases,” the health ministry said, according to the Qatar News Agency.
Iran on Saturday reported nine new deaths from the novel coronavirus and
205 fresh cases in the past 24 hours, bringing its overall toll to 43
dead and 593 infected.
Gulf countries have announced a raft of measures to cut links with Iran
to prevent the coronavirus from spreading after infections emerged among
people returning from pilgrimages to the Islamic republic.
Saudi Arabia on Friday barred citizens from the six-nation Gulf
Cooperation Council, which includes Qatar, from entering the cities of
Mecca and Medina amid fears over coronavirus.
The Gulf tally stands at 45 cases of coronavirus in Kuwait, 38 in Bahrain, six in Oman and 21 in the United Arab Emirates.
On Saturday the UAE also announced it was suspending nursery school classes, and limiting activities at other schools.
Authorities said that two planes will also be sent to Iran to collect
Emiratis and other Gulf citizens trapped there after conventional air
traffic was closed.
Cyclists taking part in the UAE Tour are awaiting the results of
coronavirus tests from their hotel lockdown, after the event was
abandoned Thursday when two staff from an Italian team tested positive.
The race organisers said in a tweet Saturday that 167 of those
quarantined had received negative results on coronavirus tests, but it
did not say whether they were cyclists or staff members, nor how many
others were awaiting results.
(AFP)
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