Mideast: COVID-19 Cases in Israel Exceed 10,000; Yemen 1st Case

The number of novel coronavirus cases in Israel increased to 10,408 on Friday. Meanwhile, the Saudi-backed Yemeni government declared the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the country.

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The death toll of COVID-19 has reached 95 in Israel, with a daily increase of nine deaths on Friday.

The Israeli government has put emergency regulation restrictions to reduce the COVID-19 spread, as Israelis on Wednesday began celebrating Passover, a week-long annual holiday, during which people usually travel and meet friends.

Next week, Israel will take another step to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak. The director-general of the Ministry of Health signed a public health order that every person must wear a mask in any place other than their place of residence.

The Saudi-backed Yemeni government declared on Friday the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the country's eastern province of Hadramout.

"The first confirmed case of coronavirus was recorded in the government-controlled province of Hadramout. The health situation of the infected patient is stable who receives medical care," said a statement released by the Supreme National Emergency Committee.

The statement said that all the medical teams and concerned agencies have started taking necessary measures to deal with the situation in Hadramout.

Plagued by cholera, malnutrition, and diphtheria, Yemen lacks the ability to cope with deadly epidemics as its five years of civil war has almost destroyed its healthcare system.

In Iran, 1,972 new COVID-19 cases was reported on Friday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 68,192.

The death toll of COVID-19 in Iran rose by 122 in the past 24 hours to a total of 4,232, said Kianush Jahanpur, head of Public Relations and Information Center of the ministry.

Under the decisions by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's administration and the National Headquarters to Fight the Coronavirus, parts of the country's restrictions on economic activities amid the COVID-19 epidemic will be eased starting Saturday.

Rouhani said earlier that Iran's new smart social distancing plan is a double-edged policy aimed at starting over low-risk economic activities while maintaining the combat against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the new plan of smart social distancing, certain sectors of the economy, which Rouhani refers to as low-risk businesses, will be restarted.

Iran's presidential office also announced to cooperate with Turkey on dealing with the emerging challenges of the novel coronavirus.

Turkey's total confirmed cases of COVID-19 climbed to 47,029, with 4,747 new patients reported in the last 24 hours.

The death toll from the novel coronavirus in Turkey reached 1,006 after 98 more lost their lives over the past 24 hours.

Turkish medical representatives and senior experts from China's Hunan Province on Friday held a video meeting to discuss measures to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak.

Emine Alp Mese, deputy health minister of Turkey, and 15 other medical specialists consulted the Chinese experts on the ways to diagnose, the treatment of patients, the medical observation of the recovered, the management of patients without symptoms and the protection of hospital staff.

Mese hailed the efforts of China in fighting the novel coronavirus, expressing her appreciation to the Chinese experts for sharing valuable experience in the patient treatment, and in preventing the spread of the virus.

Palestine on Friday announced the second death from COVID-19 among the 267 total infection cases in Palestinian territories. The first one in the Palestinian territories was recorded on March 25.

The Iraqi health ministry on Friday confirmed one more death from the COVID-19 and 47 new cases, bringing the total number in the country to 1,279.

So far 70 have died from the coronavirus in Iraq and 550 recovered.

Egypt reported 17 COVID-19 deaths, registering the highest daily death toll since the novel coronavirus broke out in the country in February, bringing the total number of deaths to 135.

In a statement, spokesman for Egyptian Health Ministry Khaled Megahed said 95 new cases have been reported, raising the number of confirmed cases to 1,794.

The Moroccan health ministry reported 74 new coronavirus cases on Friday, bringing the total number in the North African country to 1,448.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced 370 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 3,360.