A sign placed by the Kuwaiti authorities on a highway in the capital advising those who came from countries where the Corona virus appeared to visit a doctor (EPA)

Asharq Al-Awsat

Kuwait has confirmed a new case of coronavirus infection, bringing the total number of people diagnosed with the disease in the country to 46, a health ministry official said on Sunday.

The majority of the cases, including the one identified in the past 24 hours, are either people who had travelled to Iran or been in contact with people who were there, the official said.

All those infected with the virus are kept in quarantine and are in good health receiving necessary treatment, Kuwait News Agency quoted the ministry as confirming.

Bahrain's ministry of health on Sunday confirmed six new coronavirus cases, raising the total number to 47 cases, the state news agency said, citing a ministry statement.

The six cases are five Bahraini citizens and a Saudi national who arrived in Bahrain on indirect flights from Iran.

Another Gulf country, Qatar, announced two more cases, taking the total to three.

The two Qatari individuals were evacuated from Iran on Feb. 27 and have been under full quarantine, said the health ministry on its Twitter account.

Iraq also reported six new cases, bringing the total number of cases there to 19, the health ministry said.

Two of the six are in Baghdad, and the other four in Sulaimaniya, and all had recently returned from Iran, it added.

Virus cases in Lebanon rose too, with the health ministry saying three more people had tested positive after arriving from Iran, bringing the total in the country to 10.

The three patients, who had been in isolation at home, were quarantined at the Rafik Hariri Hospital in Beirut after showing symptoms, the ministry said in a statement.

Lebanon closed schools this week and halted flights for non-residents from countries with outbreaks, namely China, Iran, Italy and South Korea.

Morocco announced Sunday postponing sports and cultural events.

It says it has tested 25 people suspected of having the coronavirus but so far all the tests have come back negative.

The country has not confirmed any cases.

The outbreak that began in China infected more than 86,000 people globally and killed over 2,900 people.

The World Health Organization has named the illness COVID-19, referring to its origin late last year and the coronavirus that causes it.