Coronavirus case tally rises in five Arab states

ANKARA Health authorities in five Arab countries reported new cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday. Morocco's Health Ministry confirmed one fatality from the virus, taking the nationwide death toll to 172. It said 118 new cases were detected over the past 24 hours, raising the total COVID-19 infections to 4,687. In Lebanon, the Health Ministry said one person had died from the virus, bringing the death toll to 25. According to the ministry, four new infections were registered, taking the total cases in the country to 733. Bahrain's health authorities said the virus case tally rose to 3,273 after 103 infections were reported. The Gulf state has so far confirmed five deaths from the pandemic. Qatar's Health Ministry said 776 people had tested positive for the virus over the past 24 hours, taking the total COVID-19 cases to 14,872. The Health Ministry in Oman also registered 36 new infections, bringing the total coronavirus cases to 2,483. More than 3.36 million cases have been reported in 187 countries and regions since the virus emerged in China last December, with the US and Europe the world’s hardest-hit areas. A significant number of COVID-19 patients – over 1.05 million – have recovered, but the disease has also claimed close to 240,000 lives so far, according to data compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University. * Bassel Barakat contributed to this report from Ankara