The United Arab Emirates announced Wednesday its first case of the new coronavirus, in a family from Wuhan, in what is thought to be the first confirmed case in the Middle East.

“The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention announced a case of the new coronavirus affecting people from one family coming from the city of Wuhan in China,” the state news agency WAM reported, without saying how many were infected.

“The health condition of those affected was stable and under medical monitoring,” it cited the ministry as saying.

Gulf airports, including Dubai which is home to one of the world’s biggest aviation hubs, said last week they would screen all passengers arriving from China amid the outbreak of the deadly virus.

The disease has spread to more than 15 countries since it emerged out of Wuhan late last year, with the death toll soaring to 132 and confirmed infections nearing 6,000.

All confirmed fatalities have so far been in China. Confirmed cases have been reported across the Asia Pacific region and in North America and Europe, but the Wuhan family in the UAE appear to be the first in the Middle East.

Dubai’s government said Thursday that some 989,000 Chinese tourists visited the glitzy emirate last year — a number expected to cross the one million mark in 2020.

About 3.6 million Chinese transited through the emirate’s main airport in 2019.

The UAE’s Abu Dhabi International Airport, another major hub, has also begun screening passengers arriving from China.

Between them, the two Emirati hubs operate dozens of flights a week with Chinese cities.

China is the UAE’s top trading partner and Abu Dhabi is among the 15 top crude oil suppliers to Beijing. Several hundred Chinese companies have offices in the UAE.

The coronavirus has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.

Like SARS, it can be passed among humans via the respiratory tract.

The UAE health ministry said it has taken “all the necessary precautions” in line with standards approved by the World Health Organisation.

It said that the country’s health system “works very efficiently and that the ministry is closely following the situation in a way that guarantees the health and safety of everyone.”

– AFP

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

PAP should not view dissenting views with fear

~by: Ghui~ Many have remarked over the last few months that Singaporean…

【冠状病毒19】6月14日新增407例确诊

根据卫生部文告,截至本月14日中午12时,本地新增 407 例冠状病毒19确诊。 新增病患大多为住宿舍工作准证持有者。今增九例社区病例,其中四人为新加坡公民或永久居民,另五人是工作证件持有者。 本地累计确诊病例已增至4万0604 例。当局仍在搜集病例详情并将在晚些时候公布。

NCMP scheme is a bait for the opposition

The following article was first published in sgpolitics.net by Ng E-Jay For…

AVA voted against proposals to conserve endangered species in CITES

On Saturday 13th July 2013, in a public forum held during the…