Middle East, Mediterranean report new COVID-19 cases

By Mehmet Nuri Ucar, Esat Firat, Serdar Bitmez, Halime Afra Aksoy and Muhammet İkbal Arslan

ANKARA (AA) - A number of countries in the Middle East and Mediterranean announced new cases of the novel coronavirus Thursday, with some of them reporting higher death tolls.

The Health Ministry of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus confirmed 13 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 33.

Egypt’s Health Ministry said the death toll in the country rose to seven and the number of confirmed cases had risen to 256.

The Israeli Health Ministry reported 44 more confirmed cases of the virus in the country, bringing the total to 573. It said 10 of the cases were soldiers.

Jordan’s Health Ministry said the total number of confirmed cases had risen by 13 to 69.

The Saudi Arabian Health Ministry announced that the total number of coronavirus cases in the country had increased to 274, with 36 new confirmed cases.

Iraqi authorities said two new deaths from the coronavirus were reported in southern Iraq, bringing the total to 14, according to the country's official news agency.

The novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, emerged in Wuhan, China last December and has spread to at least 160 countries and territories. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a pandemic.

The number of confirmed cases worldwide now totals 242,092, while the death toll exceeds 9,800 and over 84,900 have recovered, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the U.S.

Despite the rising number of cases, most who become infected suffer only mild symptoms and recover.

*Writing by Fahri Aksut