Coronavirus cases rise in Arab countries

By Ali Semerci and Mehmet Nuri Ucar

ISTANBUL (AA) – Three Arab countries reported an increase in coronavirus cases on Saturday.

Kuwait’s Health Ministry said 278 new cases were confirmed in the country over the past 24 hours, raising the total to 2,892.

Four more fatalities brought the death toll to 19, while recoveries stand at 656, the ministry said.

Oman’s case count reached 1,905 after 115 more people tested positive for COVID-19.

Ten patients have died and 329 have recovered in the country so far, according to the Health Ministry.

In Lebanon, the number of cases is 704, the death toll stands at 24, and 104 COVID-19 patients have so far recovered, the country’s Health Ministry said in a statement.

COVID-19 cases have been reported in 185 countries and regions since the novel coronavirus emerged in China last December, with the US and Europe the hardest-hit areas in the world.

More than 2.83 million cases have been reported worldwide, with the death toll near 200,000 and recoveries over 802,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the US.

* Writing by Seda Sevencan