Jordan on Tuesday closed border crossings with Israel and the West Bank and its seaports to shipping from Egypt as well as barred overland passenger traffic from Iraq to protect the kingdom from coronavirus, the country's health minister said.
The government has also banned travel to Lebanon and Syria and from Monday will bar entry to travelers from France, Germany and Spain, Saad Jaber told a news conference.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
Jordan announced earlier this month that a man who had arrived on a flight from Italy had tested positive for coronavirus, the first case confirmed in the country. Jordanian authorities have not announced any new cases.
Saudi Arabia closed off air and sea travel to 14 countries affected by the new virus Monday, while Israel ordered two weeks of home quarantine for anyone arriving from overseas. The outbreak in Israel has been largely contained, but it has begun to gain pace in recent days, with a total of 75 cases diagnosed as of Wednesday. There are 26 confirmed cases in the Palestinian territories.
Across the Mideast, over 8,600 people have contracted the virus and the COVID-19 illness it causes. The majority come from hard-hit Iran, which has one of the world's worst death tolls outside of China, the epicenter of the outbreak.
The Islamic republic said it will recognize doctors and nurses who die combating the coronavirus as "martyrs" like slain soldiers, the country's leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced as the outbreak killed 54 more people and pushed the nation's death toll to 291.
Iranian Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour on Tuesday offered new casualty figures for the virus, which represented an 18% increase in deaths from the day before and 12% more confirmed cases.
Jahanpour warned figures in Iran likely will continue to rise before the Persian New Year, Nowruz, on March 20. He urged people to limit their travel, which already has been difficult for police manning checkpoints on roads between major cities. Iran has yet to take widespread quarantine decisions like China and Italy.
"The rate of spreading disease is still rising," Jahanpour told a televised news conference.
A rumor circulating in Iran that alcohol can treat coronavirus has so far led to 37 deaths and sent 270 people to the hospital after being poisoned by bootleg alcohol, the state-run IRNA reported.
Alcoholic beverages are illegal in Iran, but homemade brews in the southern city of Ahvaz apparently substituted toxic methanol for ethanol and used bleach to mask the color, Health Ministry official Ali Ehsanpour said.
Also Tuesday, Lebanon had its first known coronavirus death, a Health Ministry official said. The official said the 56-year-old man had recently returned from Egypt.
Lebanese Minister of Culture Abbas Murtada separately ordered all museums closed until further notice because of coronavirus, according to the state-run national news agency. Lebanon, like other Mideast nations, has closed schools and universities over the virus.
There were 59 confirmed cases as of Monday in Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, including one fatality, a German tourist. Outside Iran, only Iraq, Egypt and now Lebanon have recorded deaths from the virus in the Mideast.
Hardest hit in Egypt was the ancient city of Luxor, which a WHO representative described Tuesday as being under strict government scrutiny. Dr. Jean Yaacoub Jabbour told The Associated Press that his agency is working with the Egyptian government to trace the cases and those who interacted with them, including the cases found aboard a Nile cruise ship.
Egypt's government has announced a temporary ban on large public gatherings and all events involving people's movement between cities. Egypt's soccer association said Tuesday all soccer games in the country would be played in empty stadiums until further notice.
