Coronavirus cases, deaths on rise in Arab countries

ISTANBUL, JERUSALEM

Iraq, Libya, Palestine, Jordan and Yemen reported more coronavirus infections and deaths Thursday as efforts continued to contain the disease.

Iraq

Another 37 people in Iraq died in the past 24 hours, pushing nationwide fatalities to 14,360, according to the Health Ministry.

With 6,015 new infections, the caseload rose to 856,939. A total of 764,069 recoveries have been recorded so far.

Libya

Libya’s National Center for Disease Control reported 13 deaths over the past 24 hours.

The center said 1,023 people tested positive for COVID-19 and 717 recovered.

The new figures pushed Libya’s count to 159,980 confirmed cases, including 2,680 fatalities and 147,882 recoveries.

Palestine

Palestinian health authorities registered 20 new fatalities and 2,353 infections from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Health Ministry said 1,211 cases were recorded in the West Bank, 1,081 cases were reported in the Gaza Strip, while 61 infections were confirmed in East Jerusalem.

Palestine has recorded 273,231 coronavirus cases, including 2,901 deaths, since the first case of COVID-19 was detected last year, according to the Health Ministry.

Jordan

Health officials in Jordan confirmed 82 new fatalities and 6,482 additional infections from the coronavirus on Thursday.

The virus tally stands at 618,059 cases and 6,940 deaths.

A total of 520,498 patients have won their battle against the virus.

Yemen

Yemeni health officials confirmed 18 new coronavirus fatalities and 174 additional infections in the past 24 hours.

The virus tally has reached 4,531 cases, including 906 fatalities, the National Committee for the Fight Against the Coronavirus said in a statement.

A total of 1,682 patients have won the battle against the virus, it said.

The figures relate to regions under government control since April 10 when the first case was detected.

Worldwide

Since it was first detected in China in December 2019, the coronavirus has claimed over 2.81 million lives in 192 countries and regions.

More than 129 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now over 73.2 million, according to figures compiled by US-based Johns Hopkins University.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz