Washington: Six people have died in the United States from the coronavirus with researchers warning the virus could have been circulating in the community for weeks, as more countries around the world reported their first cases of the disease on Monday.
Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Tunisia reported their first confirmed coronavirus cases, while the death toll in Iran rose to 66 – the highest outside China.
The Czech Republic, Scotland, and the Dominican Republic also confirmed their first cases. Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim majority nation, also announced its first patients.
More than 89,000 people across 58 countries have now been diagnosed with the infection, while the death toll globally has exceeded 3,000.
Senegal became the second country in sub-Saharan Africa to confirm a coronavirus case.
Health Minister Diouf Sarr said a French man who lives in Senegal visited France in mid-February, contracting the virus before returning to the West African country.
The patient, according to the minister, is now in quarantine in the capital, Dakar.
The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy jumped by 18 over the past 24 hours to 52, the Civil Protection Agency said.
The accumulative number of cases in the country, which has been hardest hit by the virus in Europe, totalled 2036, up from 1,694 on Sunday.
The head of the agency said of those originally infected, 149 people had recovered.
The contagion came to light 10 days ago and is focused mainly on a handful of hotspots in the north of Italy, with isolated cases reported in many other regions.
Saudi Arabia’s health ministry announced its first coronavirus case.
The victim travelled from Iran to the Gulf kingdom through Bahrain, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported.
A test confirmed the man was infected with the virus.
Samples were taken from those in contact with the person, and results were expected soon, the health ministry said.
Four new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Qatar, state news agency (QNA) reported on Monday, taking the total to seven.
Two Qatari citizens and two domestic workers who accompanied them to Iran were diagnosed with the virus, QNA quoted the health ministry as saying.
They were among a group of citizens who were evacuated by the government on a private plane from Iran on February 27, the ministry added.
The victims did not have any contact with the community since their arrival. The three earlier coronavirus patients were in stable condition and recovering, it said.
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