The Iranian news agency – while not elaborating on the nationality of the two people infected with the new coronavirus, recently named COVID-19 by the World Health Organization, quoted an official in the country’s health ministry, Kiyanoush Jahanpour, as saying that “since last two days, some suspected cases of the new coronavirus were found.” Officials later said the two patients had died.
Jahanpour did not say how many people were suspected of having the virus, reports CTV News Canada, however, he did say that the two confirmed cases were detected in the central province of Qom.
Iranian officials have reportedly implimented restrictions on incoming flights due to the COVID-19 outbreak, according to The Hill.
The Associated Press notes that elsewhere in the Middle East, nine cases have been confirmed in the United Arab Emirates, seven of them Chinese nationals, one patient from India and one patient from the Philippines.
And the African continent now has its first case of the new coronavirus. Egypt’s Health Ministry confirmed its first case last Friday, reports The Guardian.
Details are sparce, but the Egyptian Health Ministry did say the patient, who is not Egyptian, is in a hospital in isolation and the World Health Organization was immediately notified. Health officials have already expressed concern that shpould the virus get loose on the African continent, it could wreck havoc on less developed countries.
