Saudi Arabia closed public spaces on Sunday and announced a pause in most government operations while Qatar and Oman imposed entry restrictions as Gulf Arab states broadened efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus and support their economies.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Qatar reported new cases, raising the total number in the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council to 963, with no deaths reported.
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Qatar, which now has 401 cases, said it would ban non-Qatari passengers from entering the country for two weeks starting on Wednesday. It announced measures to shield its economy, including 75 billion riyals ($20.5 billion) in incentives for the private sector and more state investment in the local bourse.
Oman said that as of Tuesday it would allow in only GCC citizens, and ordered the suspension of Friday prayers, social events such as weddings and closure of public parks.
Saudi Arabia reported 15 more coronavirus cases, taking its total to 118. Local municipalities tweeted directives for the closure of malls, restaurants, coffee shops, and public parks while exempting supermarkets, pharmacies and food delivery. Al Arabiya TV said the measures would apply across the country.
State news agency SPA reported that government operations were suspended for 16 days except for the health and security sectors. The justice ministry said earlier non-urgent judicial hearings were postponed indefinitely.
Regional tourism and business hub Dubai joined the UAE capital Abu Dhabi in closing cinemas, arcades, spas, gyms, and parks, prompting a rush on supermarkets where many shoppers wore masks and gloves, residents said.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange closed trading halls until further notice, a day after Kuwait's bourse did the same.
The UAE recorded 12 more travel-linked infections among various nationalities — South African, Australian, Chinese, Filipino, Italian, Lebanese, British, Iranian, Emirati and three Indians — raising its total to 98.
Jordan confirmed 12 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday, as the central bank announced measures to help troubled businesses and a tourism sector hit hard by the impact of the crisis.
The kingdom imposed measures on Saturday to fight the outbreak, including a tighter lockdown that closes all borders and bans all incoming and outgoing flights as of Tuesday.
Jordanian officials say the unprecedented measures, which also include closing schools and banning daily prayers in mosques, were taken as the epidemic is spreading fast in neighboring Egypt, Syria and Iraq.
Officials are worried the crisis that has hit the thriving tourism sector, which generates around $5 billion annually, will slash growth projections and deepen an economic downturn.
The country has closed all tourism sites, including its most visited attraction, the ancient city of Petra in southern Jordan. Thousands of foreign tourists have left the country in the past few days and hotels occupancy rates have fallen dramatically.
"The tourism sector is one of the most important sectors that have been affected directly and negatively after a period of continued growth," Central Bank Governor Zaid Fariz said.
The government has kept borders open for commercial cargo and has assured people hoarding food that the country has a stockpile of commodities and essential goods that would last six months.
In another move, the central bank slashed compulsory reserves for commercial banks to 5% from 7% to inject more than 500 million dinars ($705 million) of extra liquidity to ease the economy's woes. The move was the first in nearly a decade, Fariz added.
Morocco's King Mohammed VI ordered the creation of a 10 billion dirham ($1 billion) fund to upgrade health infrastructure and help vulnerable economic sectors in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the royal cabinet said on Sunday.
The fund will help acquire the necessary health equipment and assist sectors such as tourism as well as help to maintain jobs and mitigate the pandemic's social repercussions, a royal cabinet statement said.
Morocco, which confirmed 28 coronavirus cases, suspended all international passenger flights, closed schools and canceled all events and gatherings of more than 50 people.
The global pandemic has taken a toll on Morocco's tourism sector, a key source of hard currency flow for the country accounting for 10% of its gross domestic product.
Morocco attracted 13 million tourists in 2019, up 5.2% from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, thousands of Muslims returning to Turkey from a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia were taken into quarantine on Sunday due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.
Turkey, which has only diagnosed six cases of coronavirus, has ramped up measures to halt its spread, closing schools and universities, holding sports events without spectators and halting flights to many countries.
In its latest move, the Turkish Interior Ministry announced on Sunday that bars and nightclubs will be closed from Monday to reduce the risk of coronavirus spreading.
On Wednesday it became the last major economy to report an outbreak after taking what the World Health Organization described as "vigilant" measures to delay it.
These steps came after Health Minister Fahrettin Koca called for those returning from the Umrah pilgrimage to quarantine themselves for a fortnight, saying a returnee in the last week had become the sixth person to test positive.
Over in Iraq, the government has imposed a curfew in the capital Baghdad as of March 17 until March 24 to prevent coronavirus from spreading, the state news agency said on Sunday.
At least 124 cases have been confirmed so far in Iraq, the Health Ministry said on Sunday, and 10 people have died.
