The United Arab Emirates announced on Friday the death of two people infected with the new coronavirus, the first cases of death linked to this disease in this Gulf country. "The Ministry of Health has announced the death of two cases of people infected with the new coronavirus," said the official news agency WAM.
"One of them is a 78 year old man, of Arab nationality and returning from Europe," she said, adding that "the cause of death is a heart attack linked to his infection in the virus " . "The other person is a 58-year-old Asian resident who suffered from several chronic diseases, including heart disease and kidney failure , " said WAM.
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Abu Dhabi has so far recorded 140 cases of contamination, 31 people healed but no deaths.
As elsewhere in the world, the United Arab Emirates have tightened restrictions on international travel but have not imposed confinement and certain public places remain open, such as shopping centers or restaurants. The country nevertheless decided on Friday to ban the entry into its territory of citizens of the Gulf States "until the adoption of a mechanism for preliminary examination of the new coronavirus" , according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published by WAM. The day before, Abu Dhabi had already "suspended entry" for a period of "two weeks renewable" of all its legal foreign residents who are currently outside the country, according to WAM.
More than 1,300 cases of contamination have been announced in the Gulf countries, most of the first cases having concerned people returning from travel to Iran, one of the countries most affected by the pandemic. Bahrain was the first Arab country in the Gulf to announce the death of a person linked to Covid-19 disease on Monday. The 65-year-old Bahraini woman suffered from pre-existing health problems, according to the country's health ministry.
