Coronavirus tally rises in 4 Arab states

By Ibrahim al-Khazen

ISTANBUL (AA) - Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Iraq on Monday confirmed new fatalities from the novel coronavirus, while Bahrain reported new infections.

In a statement, the Saudi Health Ministry said nine people died of the virus, taking the death toll to 255.

The ministry said 1,966 cases were detected, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 41,014, while the total number of recoveries reached 12,737 after 1,280 fresh recoveries were reported.

In Algeria, the Health Ministry said the country's death toll rose by five fatalities to 507, while the the number of infections rose to 5,891 after 168 fresh cases, including 163 recoveries, were confirmed.

Iraq’s Health Ministry recorded one more fatality, bringing the tally to 110. The ministry said the total number of cases reached 2,818 as 51 new cases were reported.

The recoveries in Iraq rose to 1,790 as 56 more people recovered over the past 24 hours.

In Bahrain, 216 more infections were confirmed over the past 24 hours, pushing the tally to 5,157, including eight fatalities and 2,152 recoveries.

After appearing in Wuhan, China late last year, the virus has spread to at least 187 countries and regions, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.

More than 4.14 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with over 283,500 deaths and more than 1.42 million recoveries.

*Bassel Ibrahim contributed to this report from Ankara