Coronavirus Watch in Mideast: Turkey's pandemic slowdown continues, while Iran sees record daily rebound in COVID-19 cases

Publisher:温越涵Date:2020-06-04

Flight crew are seen at the Esenboga Airport in Ankara, Turkey on June 1, 2020. (Xinhua/Mustafa Kaya)

--Iran sees record daily rebound of 3,117 COVID-19 cases;

--Infections in Turkey rise to 165,555;

--Morocco's pandemic slowdown continues for 5th day;

--Oman sultan stresses co-existence of COVID-19.

CAIRO, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's COVID-19 pandemic continued to slow down on Tuesday, with 786 new cases of infections registered. Meanwhile, Iran set a new record in daily cases in two months amidst a resurgence of the pandemic.   

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca reported 786 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of confirmed cases in Turkey, the hardest-hit country in the Middle East, to 165,555.

At the same time, 22 more people died from the respiratory virus, taking the death toll in Turkey to 4,585, Koca tweeted.

Koca urged Turkish citizens to continue taking precaution against COVID-19 pandemic, despite the downward trend as shown in the continuing decline in daily new cases.

The lifting of the curfew does not mean that everything is back to normal, Koca said.

Women wearing mask shop at a bazaar in downtown Tehran, Iran, on May 30, 2020. (Xinhua/Ahmad Halabisaz)

With 3,117 new COVID-19 cases, Iran registered the highest daily rise since March 30, when 3,186 new cases were recorded.

Iran's tally of COVID-19 cases soared to 157,562, while the death toll rose by 64 cases to 7,942, the highest in the Middle East.

This signals a deteriorating situation in Iran amid a resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic, following the recent relaxing of anti-coronavirus measures in Iran.

Saudi Arabia's COVID-19 cases rose to 89,011, after 1,869 new infections were registered.

The kingdom recorded 24 more fatalities, bringing the death toll to 549, while the total recoveries increased to 65,790 after 1,484 new recoveries were added.   

In Qatar, the Health Ministry announced 1,826 new COVID-19 cases, increasing the tally of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 60,259.

A total of 2,599 more people recovered from the disease, bringing the total recoveries to 36,036, while three patients died, raising the death toll to 43.

Kuwait reported 887 new COVID-19 cases and six more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 28,649 and the death toll to 226, the health ministry said.

The ministry also announced the recovery of 1,382 more patients, raising the total recoveries in the country to 14,281.

People wearing face masks are seen at Ramses railway station in Cairo, Egypt, on May 31, 2020. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced 596 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 35,788.

The UAE's Ministry of Health and Prevention said 388 more patients made full recovery from the virus, taking the tally of the UAE's recoveries to 18,726. The death toll in the UAE rose to 269, after three more fatalities were added on Tuesday.

Oman' Ministry of Health announced 576 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total cases to 12,799. Nine new deaths were reported, bringing the death toll to 59.

Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq urged people in the country to co-exist with the new circumstances resulting from the spread of COVID-19 disease.

Iraq's Health Ministry reported a new record in the daily increase with 519 cases, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases to 7,387.

It also said that 20 people died from the virus, in the highest single-day rise, bringing the death toll in the country to 235.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Minister of Health Hassan al-Tamimi reiterated his call on the citizens to cooperate with the health authorities through abiding by the measures of the full curfew to avoid catastrophic consequences.

An Israeli medical worker wearing protective mask works at a COVID-19 drive-through test complex in central Israeli city of Tel Aviv on June 1, 2020. (Gideon Markowicz/JINI via Xinhua)

The Israeli Ministry of Health on Tuesday reported 116 new COVID-19 cases, the highest daily rise since May 1 when 155 infections were confirmed.

This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in Israel to 17,285. The ministry also reported five new deaths from the respiratory disease, the highest daily fatalities since May 11.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israel's Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said Israel would expand the number of coronavirus tests, including tests for asymptomatic people.

Egypt on Tuesday set a new record with 47 single-day fatalities from COVID-19, bringing the death toll in country to 1,052.

A total of 1,152 new cases were recorded, raising the total infections with the coronavirus in Egypt since mid-February to 27,536. It is the sixth consecutive day for Egypt's COVID-19 daily infections to surpass 1,000.

In Morocco, the COVID-19 pandemic continued its downward trend for the fifth day in a row, with 33 new cases recorded.

The total COVID-19 cases in Morocco rose to 7,866, while the death toll from the coronavirus rose to 206, with one new fatality registered in the last 24 hours.

Lebanon's number of COVID-19 infections increased on Tuesday by nine cases to 1,242, while the death toll remained unchanged at 27.  

Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-03 05:21:20|Editor: huaxia

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-06/03/c_139109190.htm