COVID-19: Saudi Arabia reported more than 4,100 cases on Friday (Reuters)
Dubai:
Coronavirus infections in Saudi Arabia have exceeded 200,000 and the neighboring United Arab Emirates 50,000, and the number of new cases has increased after the two largest economies in the Arab world lifted a curfew last month.
Restrictions had been in place in both countries since mid-March and their gradual lifting allowed the reopening of shops and public places.
Other Gulf countries have also decided to ease the restrictions, although Kuwait has maintained a partial curfew and Qatar, Bahrain and Oman have not imposed any.
Saudi Arabia, the highest number among the six Gulf States, reported more than 4,100 cases on Friday and Saturday, bringing its total to 205,929 with 1,858 deaths. The daily count initially exceeded 4,000 in mid-June, but fell.
The United Arab Emirates, where daily infection rates recently fell between 300 and 400 from a peak of around 900 in late May, recorded more than 600 cases on Friday and more than 700 on Saturday, bringing the toll to 50,857, with 321 death.
Dubai, the region’s business and tourism hub, is expected to reopen to foreign visitors on July 7, although this has not been implemented at the federal level in the UAE, which does not provide a breakdown of case for each of its seven emirates.
Qatar, which has the second highest regional infection rate, saw its daily number of cases go from a peak of over 2,000 at the end of May to around 500 on Saturday, bringing it to nearly 100,000 cases in total.
In Oman, the health minister warned on Thursday that there had been a worrying increase in infections in the past six weeks and urged people to comply with health measures.
Iran, the epicenter of the disease in the Middle East with a total infection number of 237,878 and 11,408 deaths on Saturday, has imposed new restrictions to stop the spread of the virus.
(Reporting by Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Alexander Smith)
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
