Kuwait, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Iraq and Oman on Monday reported their first infections from the coronavirus, which has killed more than 2,600 globally, the vast majority in China.
Kuwait reported three cases, Bahrain and Iraq each confirmed one and Oman reported two cases bringing the number of countries in the Middle East with the virus, known as COVID-19, to ten.
Meanwhile, Turkey, Pakistan and Armenia have closed their borders with Iran, as authorities reported 43 coronavirus infections and 12 deaths.
China had 150 new confirmed deaths from the coronavirus on Sunday, the National Health Commission announced, pushing the death toll nationwide to 2,592 among 77,150 confirmed cases, while South Korea’s cases continued to balloon, reaching 833 with seven confirmed deaths.
And in Italy, seven deaths have been reported in the country’s north and the number of confirmed cases has risen to more than 220, prompting emergency measures in Europe.
Fears are growing that the coronavirus outbreak could reach pandemic scale as more cases emerge around the world.
Worldwide stock markets saw sharp falls because of concerns about the economic impact of the virus.
The proportion of infected people who die from Covid-19 appears to be between 1% and 2%, although the World Health Organization (WHO) cautions that the mortality rate is not known yet.
