Iran reports surge in virus cases as death toll reaches 145
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran reported on Saturday more than 1,000 new cases of coronavirus infections within one day as the deaths climbed to 145 people in the Islamic Republic.
Iran’s total number of registered cases now stood at 5,823, a Health Ministry spokesman said in Tehran.
Several officials are among the dead. On Saturday, newly elected lawmaker Fatemeh Rabar died of the COVID-19 disease, local media reported.
At least 12 officials have tested positive, among them Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Masoumeh Ebtekar.
Infections are centered on the capital, authorities said.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Egypt said Saturday 33 of the 171 people aboard a Nile cruise ship traveling from Aswan to Luxor in southern Egypt had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Those infected will be placed under quarantine, Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed said.
On Friday, Egypt said 12 crew members on the ship were infected after a tourist who had stayed on the boat tested positive when she returned to Taiwan. Eleven of the 12 later tested negative, according to the minister.
Amonios Salah, who works as a chef on the ship, said that the crew received an inquiry from the Health Ministry about crew members showing flulike symptoms.
“Some of us were sick, some with fever,” he said.
“It’s still unclear how many people came in contact with the group in the infected ship,” said a senior police officer in Luxor. Cruise ships on the Nile often dock side by side, with passengers getting on and off by walking through several other vessels. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk to reporters.
The United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, reported 15 new cases of the virus, raising the total number of infections in the Gulf country to 45.
Saudi Arabia announced new restrictions on arrivals from other countries where the virus has been recorded.
An official source with the Saudi Interior Ministry said on Saturday that entry into the kingdom by arrivals from other Gulf states — the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain — will be temporarily restricted to airports.
Entry by land from these three countries will be confined to commercial trucks only, the source said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency SPA.
Under the new measures, Saudi Arabia also requires that those who seek to arrive from countries that were hit by the coronavirus must provide a medical certificate proving they are free of the infection, the source added.
The requirement applies to those who resided in these countries during the 14 days prior to entering Saudi Arabia.
Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia imposed the overnight closure of the Grand Mosque in the city of Mecca and the Prophet Mohammed’s Mosque in Medina. It also halted Umrah pilgrimages to Mecca.
The overall number of virus cases in the oil-rich monarchy on Saturday rose to seven, after the Health Ministry reported two new infections from citizens arriving from Iran and Iraq.
An Iraqi man, returning from neighboring Iran, died on Saturday from the coronavirus, becoming Iraq’s fourth such death, Iraqi medical sources said.
Iraqi authorities have reported 46 confirmed cases of the virus.
The Iraqi government has called on nationals in Iran to return by March 15. A statement said that after mid-March, all border crossings will be closed to Iraqis.
In neighboring Kuwait, authorities on Saturday announced three new cases, bringing the total number to 61. The Health Ministry said the new cases are linked to traveling to Iran.
Earlier Saturday, Kuwait suspended flights to and from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Bangladesh, the Philippines, India and Sri Lanka for one week, the official KUNA news agency reported.