Kuwait called on its citizens to avoid traveling over concerns about the spread of the coronavirus. (AFP)

Asharq Al-Awsat

Kuwait called on its citizens to avoid traveling over concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, a health ministry official said at a media conference on Saturday.

The Gulf state has not registered any new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, she said.

The total number of people infected with the disease in Kuwait is 45, while no one has died, the health ministry said on Friday.

In Bahrain, the Interior Ministry threatened legal prosecution against travelers who came from Iran and hadn't been tested for the new coronavirus, and also barred public gatherings for two weeks.

Bahrain has shut down flights to halt the spread of the virus, which causes the illness named COVID-19 by experts.

All of Bahrain's cases link back to Iran, whose death toll of 34 killed is the worst outside of China, the epicenter of the virus.

Iran alone has 388 cases of the virus, including top officials, and experts fear that number may be far greater, something Iranian officials themselves have begun to hint.

Bahrain's Interior Ministry said in a statement that 2,292 people had come to the kingdom from Iran before the announcement of the outbreak there. Of those, only “310 citizens” had called authorities and undergone testing, the ministry said, raising the possibility of the untested being arrested and charged if they refuse.

The ministry "affirmed that the required legal proceedings would be taken against anyone who returned from Iran in February and didn’t call to make appointments for the tests.”

“It highlighted that preventing the outbreak of the infection is the responsibility of individuals and society as a whole.”

Oman's health ministry said on Saturday a women who had been diagnosed with the disease has recovered. The sultanate said on Thursday the total number of people infected was six.

Qatar's Health Ministry reported the first case of the coronavirus in the country on Saturday.

A 36-year old Qatari citizen who returned recently from Iran tested positive for the virus, the ministry said in a statement cited by the official QNA news agency.

The ministry said the infected person was among Qatari nationals evacuated on Thursday from Iran.

The majority of infections in other Gulf countries were diagnosed in people who had visited Iran or who came into contact with people who had been there.