Coronavirus: First death registered in Gulf after woman dies in Bahrain

A woman has died in Bahrain after contracting coronavirus, marking the first death from the disease in the Gulf.

The 65-year-old woman had pre-existing medical conditions, the health ministry ministry said on Twitter.

Bahrain has reported 214 cases of the disease so far.

The Gulf kingdoms have been the countries worst hit by the coronavirus in the Middle East, apart from Iran.

Dozens of Bahrain's cases were confirmed among citizens evacuated from Iran on flights chartered by Bahraini authorities last week.

Qatar has registered the most cases in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), with 401 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Sunday. It has not reported any fatalities but has closed universities, schools, gyms and cinemas as well as cancelling many public events, including the MotoGP.

The country said it would bar entry to arriving air passengers except citizens from Wednesday. The government has also announced a $23bn economic stimulus in response to the new coronavirus.

"We've taken a  number of decisions, including suspending inward flights to Qatar starting from Wednesday evening for two weeks," assistant foreign minister Lolwah al-Khater told media in Doha.

The measure could be extended at the end of the initial two week period, she said, adding that the $23bn stimulus package will include $2.75bn to shore-up the stock market.

Khater said that "transit flights, cargo flights and Qatari nationals who want to come back to the country" would be exempted from the new measures.

'We are lost!': Thousands of tourists stranded as Morocco cuts links to Europe amid coronavirus outbreak

Lire

Outbound flights will be unaffected.

Khater also said that all public transport in Doha would be suspended from 1900 GMT on Sunday.

The principal user of Doha's Hamad International Airport is state-run Qatar Airways, which mostly operates transit flights exempt from the new measures.

Passengers of the airline will still be able to fly between third-country destinations but will be unable to enter Qatar during their transfer.

Visas on arrival had already been suspended for travellers from Italy, France, Spain and Germany as Qatar urged its citizens abroad to return home.

Qatari health officials said on Saturday that four patients had made a full recovery after being diagnosed with the virus.

Many of Qatar's initial cases were from a group of citizens and their foreign staff repatriated to the country from Iran, where more than 700 people had died in the outbreak by Sunday.

Facing a mounting public health threat, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman have taken drastic measures to combat the pandemic.

Kuwait has taken the strictest measures in the GCC by largely locking down the country over the weekend, the only nation other than Italy to do so. 

In Doha, the usually bustling market in the heart of the tourist centre was eerily quiet, while Riyadh's shopping district also lay barren.