DUBAI: Middle East countries have reported more cases of COVID-19, with Turkey recently overtaking Iran in the region for the number of infections at 82,329 as of Sunday morning.
The global toll of coronavirus stood at 2,328,600, with 160,706 fatalities.
April 19, 2020 (All times in GMT)
18:37 - Egypt announced 112 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday and 15 deaths from the disease.
18:30 - Jordan’s governorates of Ma’an, Kerak and Tafilah will be isolated as of Wednesday to prevent the spread of coronavirus but residents of each governorate can go out between 10:00 a.m. and 06:00 p.m.
17:41 - The US death toll from the novel coronavirus rose to more than 40,000, the highest in the world and almost double the number of deaths in the next highest country Italy, according to a Reuters tally.
17:36 - The UAE recorded 432 new coronavirus cases, and said recovery cases have exceeded 1,000.
17:09 - Jordan said it will ease the ban on southern cities amid the coronavirus outbreak, starting from Wednesday.
16:38 - The coronavirus outbreak in New York — epicenter of the epidemic in the US — is “on the descent,” Governor Andrew Cuomo announced.
New York statewide coronavirus deaths rose by 507, vs increase of 540 a day earlier.
16:17 - Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy rose by 433 on Sunday, the lowest daily tally in a week, and the number of new cases also slowed to 3,047 from a previous 3,491, the Civil Protection Agency said.
16:07 - Turkey’s confirmed coronavirus cases have risen to 86,306, an increase of 3,977, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said, the highest total for any country outside Europe or the US.
Koca said 127 more people have died, taking the death toll to 2,017. A total of 11,976 people have recovered from coronavirus so far, and the number of tests carried out over the past 24 hours came to 35,344, the minister said.
15:55 - France reported 395 deaths from COVID-19 in 24 hours as the number of new hospitalizations continued a slow decline.
The new deaths — 227 in hospitals and 168 in nursing homes — brought France’s total epidemic death toll to 19,718, top health official Jerome Salomon told reporters.
15:34 - New York’s daily toll of coronavirus deaths has hit its lowest point in more than two weeks, but officials still warn that New York City and the rest of the state aren’t ready to ease up on shutdowns of schools, businesses and gatherings.
15:31 - Algeria extended the suspension of education until the end of April over coronavirus fears on Sunday.
14:48 - The total number of people killed by the coronavirus in Canada rose by just under 12% to 1,506 in a day, official data posted by the public health agency showed.
The figure for those diagnosed with the coronavirus had climbed to 33,922. The respective figures on Saturday were 1,346 deaths and 32,412 positive diagnoses.
13:19 - The number of people in Britain who have died in hospital from the coronavirus has risen by 596 to 16,060, up from 15,464 the day earlier, according to daily health ministry figures.
12:54 - The UAE central bank urged commercial lenders to use the $70 billion-worth of capital and liquidity measures launched by the regulator to support the economy during the coronavirus crisis.
“Banks are urged to process more applications from individuals, corporates and SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) whose business operations are affected by the implications of COVID-19 pandemic,” the central bank said.
12:31 - Kuwait’s central bank instructed banks to postpone amounts due from coronavirus affected customers for six months without applying any penalties, it said in a statement.
The move extends a previous directive in March which stipulated a three month postponement. The six month window runs from March to September.
10:29 – Iraq said it will ease some coronavirus regulations during Ramadan in certain areas., including lifting curfew between 6 a.m and 7 p.m.
10:22 – Morocco has confirmed 135 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 2,820 infected people.
10:19 – Shipment of protective equipment for health workers due to arrive in UK on Sunday from Turkey has been delayed.
09:58 – Tehran’s City Council President Mohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani said the number of coronavirus fatalities in Tehran is higher than the country’s officially reported numbers.
09:53 – Iran has reported 82,211 coronavirus cases so far, and fatalities have reached 5,118.
09:43 – Lebanon has reported one new case of COVID-10, bringing toll to 673.
09:40 – Kuwait has confirmed 164 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total to 1,915.
09:29 – Jordan has gradually eased lockdown measures in Aqaba city.
09:21 – Spain's coronivrus toll has slowed, only reporting 410 deaths overnight.
09:09 – Kuwait’s Emir Sabah Al-Sabah said the country will quicken the repatriation of nationals amid the coronavirus pandemic, adding that returnees should stick to self-isolation after arrival.
09:00 – The UAE has recorded 479 new coronavirus cases, 98 recoveries and four deaths.
08:45 – Russia has reported daily record of 6,060 new coronavirus cases in past 24 hours, bringing the total to 42,853.
08:17 – Palestine has recorded six new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 430 infected people.
07:43 – UK senior minister Michael Gove said that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is absolutely on top of things. He also said that Britain’s government is not yet thinking about easing the lockdown enforced almost four weeks ago to help control the coronavirus outbreak.
07:38 – Kuwait has confirmed 25 new coronavirus recoveries, bringing the total to 305 recovered patients.
06:49 – Oman has reported 86 new cases of coronavirus, taking total to 1,266, with 57 new recoveries. The total number recoveries has reached 290.
06:30 – Taiwan has confirmed 22 new cases of coronavirus.
06:14 – Israel’s coronavirus death toll has reached 171.
04:42 – Germany has recorded a rise of 2,458 coronavirus cases, bringing total to 139,897, with 4,294 fatalities.
04:25 – Thailand has reported 32 new coronavirus cases, no new deaths.
01:17 – South Korea has reported eight new coronavirus cases – it’s the first time since the country’s peak in February that the increase has grown by less than 10.
01:03 – The US has reported 1,891 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, according to John Hopkins Hospital.
