Only essential services will be allowed to operate in area home to 500,000 people
Saudi Arabia has cordoned off an oil-rich Shia region, suspended air and sea travel to nine countries and closed schools and universities, in a series of measures to contain the fast-spreading coronavirus.
Related: Saudi Arabia releases images of King Salman after purge of royals
Continue reading...A summary of the biggest developments in the global coronavirus outbreak
Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak on Friday include:
Continue reading...First cases reported in Vatican City, Peru and Serbia, while France has further 190 patients, bringing total number to 613
If you’d like to read a summary of the day’s events, here’s our coronavirus at-a-glance article from earlier this evening:
Related: Coronavirus latest: at a glance
A 15th person has died in the USA, according to a hospital in Washington state – the worst-hit in the union. EvergreenHealth Medical Center in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland has reported the state’s 12 death.
Kirkland is the site of an outbreak at a nursing facility, where at least six people have died.
Continue reading...Footage has appeared on social media of Iranian health workers dancing and singing in an effort to keep morale up as the country faces the worst coronavirus outbreak outside China.
About 8% of the Iranian parliament’s MPs have tested positive for the coronavirus, officials have said, as the country announced plans to mobilise 300,000 soldiers and volunteers to fight the epidemic.
‘Indecent’ behaviour in public is banned in Iran, which means dancing can sometimes by punished under the country’s religious laws
Continue reading...Director’s films ‘propaganda against the system’, judges reported to have declared – but coronoavirus outbreak casts doubt on whether he will accept summons to prison
Mohammad Rasoulof, the Iranian director who won the the top award at last month’s Berlin film festival, has been ordered to serve a one-year prison sentence over his movies, his lawyer has said.
Rasoulof’s sentence arose from three films that Iran’s authorities found to be “propaganda against the system”, his lawyer Nasser Zarafshan told the Associated Press. The sentence also included an order than he stop film-making for two years, the lawyer said.
Continue reading...More cases in Scotland and Ireland, Italians in India test positive while Facebook says it will take down hoax claims
Two groups of Italian tourists were under quarantine in India today, with 16 testing positive for the coronavirus, prompting authorities to tighten controls.
Health minister Harsh Vardhan said that passengers on all international flights would now be screened, the AFP news agency reported.
This seems to be emerging a bit of a trend. Footage has appeared showing Iranian health workers dancing and singing in an effort to keep morale up as the country faces the worst coronavirus outbreak outside China.
Videos of medical staff and #coronavirus patients square dancing together in several "shelter hospitals" in #Wuhan have gone viral on Chinese social media.
"Square dancing helps to cheer them up and improve their immunity, which is beneficial for their recovery." pic.twitter.com/Kpqsyqclkj
Streets are empty, schools and cinemas are closed, but there is a feeling that officials have been too slow to react
Little rows of upright matchsticks, stuck in felt, have appeared alongside cash machines and lift doors, offering a chance for Iranians to press the buttons without their fingers touching potentially coronavirus-contaminated metal surfaces. Guides have also appeared on how to attach metal extensions to cigarette lighters for the same purpose, and in public some men no longer shake hands or kiss as a greeting, but instead tap their shoes on one another.
Traffic jams have disappeared from Tehran’s crowded streets, even if the pollution remains due to the filth generated by power stations, and the city’s now often empty metro train carriages are sprayed with disinfectant two or three times a day. Distance working and learning has become the norm. Evening language classes, popular in Tehran, are empty. Internet traffic is up 40% as Iranians work from home.
Continue reading...Officials claim British-Iranian dual national has not been affected by coronavirus
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is being offered temporary release from Evin prison in Tehran due to the risk of the coronavirus outbreak reaching Iran’s jails.
The news was confirmed by the Iranian ambassador to the UK, Hamid Baeidinejad, and by Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s constituency MP in north-west London, Tulip Siddiq.
Continue reading...USA, Australia and Thailand report first deaths from coronavirus as two frontline doctors in China die and bans are put in place on large gatherings. Follow live news
A parent and child who attended the minor injuries unit at Sevenoaks Hospital in Kent on Saturday afternoon have been advised to self-isolate at home and call NHS 111 in case they require testing for the coronavirus.
The parent grew concerned when the child, who had been at school with pupils who recently returned from Italy, developed a mild temperature.
Our Sevenoaks Minor Injury Unit (MIU) has now closed for the evening and will be reopening as normal tomorrow morning.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
You can find the details of your nearest, alternative MIU here https://t.co/TjQ9dy665d pic.twitter.com/YmotgxTFLq
A “surveillance network” of GP practices in Scotland will test patients with coughs and fevers and submit samples, even if patients have not travelled to an area affected by coronavirus, as part of the Scottish government plans.
The measure described as an “early warning” system to alert health professionals to possible spread of the virus.
“Hospitals and GP surgeries will now conduct tests on some patients with coughs, fevers or shortness of breath - regardless of whether they have travelled to a place where the virus is known to be spreading.”
“Not everyone with flu will be tested, but this is a sensible step to take as a precautionary measure to give us an early warning of community transmission.”
Continue reading...Despite reports of Covid-19 in Evin prison, staff are refusing to test her, say campaigners
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman detained in Iran, is suspected to have the coronavirus, her family has said.
The Free Nazanin Campaign said that although there were reports of at least one coronavirus-related inmate death inside Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, staff had refused to test her.
Continue reading...Lone Kabul laboratory preparing to treat patients in the midst of political turmoil and tentative peace talks, as border with Iran closed
Preparations for an outbreak of coronavirus were underway in Afghanistan as the country confirmed its first case in the western province of Herat, which borders Iran.
Seven more suspected cases have been identified in Herat, and three cases in the nearby provinces of Farah and Ghor.
Continue reading...Saudi Arabia bans religious tourists from entering country as WHO says virus now spreading faster outside China than in it. Follow latest news
Fiji has extended its travel ban due to coronavirus fears. Travellers who have been in Italy, Iran and the South Korean cities of Daegu and Cheongdo will not be permitted to enter Fiji. Visitors who had been in mainland China in the last 14 days have also been forbidden entry into the Pacific nation.
There are no suspected or confirmed cases of coronavirus in Fiji, but Pacific nations are fearful of how their health systems will cope were the virus to reach their shores.
Ian Thorpe, the Australian Olympic swimming legend, says athletes must consider their own health before attending the Tokyo Games this year.
Thorpe, whose five Olympic golds make him the most successful Australian Olympian all time, spoke out as concerns mounted about whether the Games in July and August will go ahead because of the coronavirus outbreak.
I think the decision should come down to each individual athlete. But whether or not they want to compete, that they should take their health into consideration first.
Related: Athletes must consider their own health before travelling to Olympics, says Ian Thorpe
Continue reading...Anoosheh Ashoori, a British-Iranian citizen, is among those who may be forced to move
Prisoners in Iran’s Evin prison, including a British-Iranian dual national, are protesting against plans for them to be transferred to a ward that they believe previously held a coronavirus victim.
Sherry Ashoori, whose dual national husband, Anoosheh Ashoori, 65, was jailed by the Iranian authorities for 12 years, said she has contacted the Foreign Office to warn them of the plans to transfer her husband and others to the prison’s ward 4.
Continue reading...Shrine city of Qom believed to be virus hub, as concern grows for region’s refugee population
Fears are growing across the Middle East that coronavirus has infiltrated a main pilgrimage route, which could lead the deadly pathogen to vulnerable refugee populations, causing perhaps unprecedented public health crises across the region.
Concern is centred on the Iranian shrine city of Qom, which is thought to be a hub of the disease and the likely source of its spread elsewhere in the country and in neighbouring states, where infected travellers have been diagnosed in recent days.
Continue reading...Iran’s election on Friday was a blow to moderates, a disappointment for conservative rulers and bad news for the region too. The result was largely ordained before anyone could cast a ballot. Hardliners appear to have swept the parliamentary contest – taking all 30 seats in Tehran – because the authorities ensured that they would. The Guardian Council, which is loosely under the control of the supreme leader, had disqualified around half of the thousands of candidates for the 290-seat body, including 90 serving members. While parliament’s powers are limited, it can impede the president and shape the political environment; with a presidential race due next year, the result sets a course for conservative control of every branch of government – as seen during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s grim tenure.
Yet the outcome of Friday’s poll was far from the endorsement sought. Despite the supreme leader’s exhortations to vote, the extension of polling hours and the anger engendered by the US assassination of Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Quds force, a usually active electorate stayed away. Turnout stood at just 42.5%, the first time it has dipped below 50% since the 1979 revolution; in Tehran it was just 25%.
Continue reading...Shohreh Bayat warned after images circulated appearing to show her without a headscarf at Shanghai tournament
A chess referee from Iran has fled to the UK after being warned that she could be arrested for being in breach of Iran’s strict dress codes during an international tournament in China.
Shohreh Bayat, 32, has sought asylum in Britain after a photograph of her at the women’s world chess championships in Shanghai last month was circulated on social media. It appeared to show her without a headscarf, although she has insisted the scarf was in place but loose over her hair.
Continue reading...78,000 cases confirmed, as Italy and Iran scramble to contain major outbreaks
The world is fast approaching a tipping point in the spread of the coronavirus, according to experts, who warn that the disease is outpacing efforts to contain it, after major outbreaks forced Italy and Iran to introduce stringent internal travel restrictions and South Korea’s president placed the country on red alert.
Some of the countries most affected by the virus are scrambling to halt its progress two days after Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said the international community needed to act quickly before the narrowing “window of opportunity” closed completely.
Continue reading...Country confirms more than 430 cases as WHO head voices concern over fifth death in Iran
Thousands of members of a secretive religious sect in South Korea are being screened for the new coronavirus after more than 430 cases were confirmed in the country by officials, one of several fresh clusters of the disease globally.
More than 78,000 people around the world have been infected by the Covid-19 virus, with most cases in mainland China, though clusters that have unclear origins have emerged in Singapore, Iran and South Korea.
Continue reading...Likely outcome reflects frustration at collapsing living standards and relations with the west
Iran’s conservatives are on the brink of a landslide victory in the country’s parliamentary elections as forecasts show them taking more than two-thirds of the seats.
The reformists, the largest grouping in the outgoing parliament, have been decisively beaten, with predictions showing them taking only 17 seats in the 290-strong parliament. The principalists – or conservatives – were on course to take around 200 seats, including all 30 seats in the capital, Tehran, previously a stronghold of the reformers.
Continue reading...Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, has expressed concerned over the ‘narrowing window of opportunity’ to tackle Covid-19, and has urged the international community not to squander it. With four new cases in Iran, concern has increased about the epidemic spreading across the Middle East, and the sharp devaluation of the Iranian rial means it will be hard for its government to throw the same resources at the epidemic as China has