CORONAVIRUS: Qatar bans travellers from Egypt

Authorities in Qatar have temporarily banned all arrivals from Egypt, except Qatari citizens, over fears of the spread of the deadly coronavirus. This was contained in a statement from the Government Communications Office of Qatar, which partly said: “As a public health measure, the State of Qatar has imposed a temporary entrance restriction to its territories on all those who are coming from Egypt through intermediate points. The measure is temporary due to the spread of COVID-19.”

Egypt’s health ministry had reported its first confirmed case of the coronavirus on February 14, saying the infected person was a foreign national. On February 19, the World Health Organization (WHO) said he had been discharged from the hospital. No further reports of infection have been released from Egyptian authorities, according to APnews.

Egypt’s health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed told Ahram Online on Sunday that it “denies once again the detection of any diagnosed or suspected cases of the coronavirus across all governorates”. Megahed’s comments came after news reports said two suspected coronavirus victims were transferred to a hospital in northern Egypt to be quarantined. On Friday, the Egyptian cabinet denied rumours that authorities discovered large numbers of new coronavirus cases.

Across the world, more than 2,900 people have died from the fast-spreading virus that appears to have originated in China in December. More than 87,000 people have been infected worldwide.