Four dead in Iran as coronavirus spreads across Middle East
FRESH cases of coronavirus were last night spreading across the Middle East as the death toll in Iran rose to four, while Lebanon, Israel and Egypt reported more infections.
Iran’s health ministry reported two more deaths among 13 new diagnosed cases of Covid-19, doubling the total number of deaths in the Islamic Republic and taking the total number of diagnosed infections there to 18.
Hours later, Lebanon confirmed its first case, making it the latest country in the region to be hit by the epidemic.
It was found in a 45-year-old Lebanese woman who had travelled from the holy city of Qom in Iran, Lebanon’s health ministry said, adding that two other cases were being investigated.
Israel yesterday also confirmed its first case – a citizen who flew home from Japan after being quarantined on a stricken cruise ship.
Iraq and Kuwait, which share borders with Iran, were on high alert for a potential outbreak after banning travel to and from the Islamic Republic, although they have not confirmed any cases domestically.
The outbreak in Iran has raised particular concern, especially since many of the coronavirus cases involved residents of Qom, a popular destination for visitors from Kuwait and Iraq.
It came as Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organisation, admitted that things could get “messy” before insisting the virus was under control. telegraph.co.uk/ ghsnewsletter
“We still have a chance to contain it. But while doing that, we have to prepare for all eventualities as this outbreak could go in any direction – it could even be messy – but it is in our hands now. We can still avert any serious crisis,” he said, warning that global powers needed to act quickly.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s health minister has joined evacuees from coronavirus-hit China in quarantine to show solidarity in the aftermath of violent protests outside a medical facility.
Protesters in the central Poltava region on Thursday briefly blocked the road outside the health spa and hurled stones at buses carrying evacuees.
Riot police and an armoured vehicle were deployed to guide the buses to the resort in the village of Novi Sanzhary after an hours-long standoff.
Ukrainian officials said that the panic was triggered by a hoax email claiming that some of the 72 evacuees from Wuhan, the city at the epicentre of the epidemic, has been diagnosed with coronavirus.
All passengers from the evacuation plane, which landed late on Thursday night, are expected to stay in isolation for 14 days. Zoryana Skaletska, the health minister, said that she would join the quarantine. “I hope that my presence there will calm those in Novi Sanzhary and in the rest of the country,” she said in a Facebook post.
Cases worldwide have now topped 76,700, including 2,247 fatalities. In Italy, where 16 new cases were detected, authorities said they were closing all schools and offices in affected areas and cancelling public events.