Number of coronavirus infections passes 10,000 mark in Middle East

LONDON — The spread of the deadly new coronavirus in the Middle East is taking its toll on the region amid more travel restrictions to try to curb it.

The number of infections for the new coronavirus passed the 10,000 mark on Thursday.

The death toll in Iran from the outbreak jumped on Thursday by 62 to 354 while Iranian authorities reported some 9,000 confirmed cases of  COVID-19 across the Islamic republic.

Iran's senior vice president and two other Cabinet members have contracted the virus, according to the Fars news agency.

President Hassan Rouhani has come under heavy criticism for not taking tough measures to prevent the rapid spread of the virus and stem the rising daily casualty figure.

Saudi Arabia has temporarily suspended travel of citizens and residents and halted flights with several states. It also suspended passenger traffic through all land crossings with neighbouring Jordan.

The oil-rich kingdom reported 24 new coronavirus cases early Thursday, bringing the total to 45 cases.

It has suspended the "umrah" year-round pilgrimage over fears of the disease spreading to Mecca and Medina, raising uncertainty over the upcoming hajj - a key pillar of Islam.

Kuwait announced a two-week shutdown of the country besides the suspension of all commercial flights to and from Kuwait International Airport from Friday until further notice. The country has over 70 confirmed cases of the virus.

New coronavirus cases in the tiny Gulf emirate of Qatar jumped from 24 to 262.

It shut down schools and universities and banned travellers from 14 countries entering the country.

In Bahrain, confirmed cases also rose by nearly 70% this week to 189 confirmed cases, after some 77 new cases were confirmed on a returning flight of Bahrainis from Iran.

Iraq, Egypt and Lebanon are the only countries to have recorded deaths from the virus outside Iran in the Middle East.

The number of confirmed cases in Iraq of the virus has risen to 79, as reported by the Health Ministry on Wednesday.

Baghdad closed schools and universities for 10 days and banned travel to virus-hit states. The government announced a decision to close all land borders with Iran and Kuwait as of March 16 to curb the virus' spread.

The World Health Organization on Wednesday officially declared the outbreak a “pandemic."

Stock markets in energy-rich Gulf states tumbled Thursday following worldwide losses amid fears over the pandemic, an oil price war and a sharp plunge in tourism revenue.