Coronavirus tally rises in 4 Arab states

By Safiye Karabacak, Adel Bin Ibrahim Bin Elha Elthabti and Zeynep Hilal Karyagdi

ISTANBUL / TUNIS (AA) – Health authorities in Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco and Palestine confirmed new deaths and infections from the novel coronavirus on Tuesday.

In Lebanon, the Health Ministry said a patient with a chronic disease lost her life to the disease, bringing the country's death toll to 12.

A ministry statement said 17 new infections were recorded on Tuesday, taking the total coronavirus cases in Lebanon to 463.

Tunisia's Health Ministry put the death toll from the virus at 10 and 362 confirmed cases after registering 50 new infections.

In Morocco, health authorities said 18 people were diagnosed with the virus, taking the total coronavirus cases to 574.

A total of 33 people have so far died from the virus in the North African country.

In Palestine, a government spokesman confirmed 117 coronavirus cases, including 10 infections in the Gaza Strip.

The virus known as COVID-19, which emerged in Wuhan, China last December, has spread to at least 200 countries and regions around the globe.

Global death toll from the virus climbed over 38,700 on Tuesday, while the cases topped 800,000, according to figures compiled by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

In all, more than 170,300 people diagnosed with the virus have recovered from the disease.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz