Turkey’s Health Minister tells Iran, ‘Let’s talk on Skype due to virus risk’

Turkey’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has cancelled a meeting with an Iranian delegation because of the coronavirus threat, local media reported on Wednesday.

According to Hurriyet, the delegation was supposed to visit Ankara to discuss measures to tackle the virus. “Instead, Koca suggested the use of Skype,” it explained.

The minister’s suggestion came days after Iran’s Deputy Health Minister, Iraj Harirchi, was reassuring the public about the virus outbreak, and then announced that he was infected.

In Iran, at least 77 people have died of coronavirus. More than 2,300 people are now infected.

In the United Arab Emirates, all schools and universities will be closed for 4 weeks from Sunday 8 March, the Ministry of Education has announced. All education facilities will be deep cleaned during this period.

Iran announces death of 77 people with coronavirus

All schools & universities in the UAE will be closed for 4 weeks starting Sunday March 8. Facilities will be deep cleaned during this time. pic.twitter.com/Y6kkD74sZe

— وزارة التربية والتعليم (@MOEUAEofficial) March 3, 2020

Coronavirus has also hit cultural events in the Middle East. The first Saudi Film Festival scheduled for 12-21 March in Jeddah’s historic Al-Balad has been postponed due to concerns about the spread of the virus, the Saudi Arabian authorities announced on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia’s Inaugural Red Sea Film Festival Postponed Due to Coronavirus concerns https://t.co/07d2skN5VX

— FilmTVDiversity (@FilmTVDiversity) March 3, 2020

Elsewhere, more than 2,300 people in Oman have been placed under quarantine to curb the spread of the virus. The number of confirmed cases in the Sultanate has risen to 12, the Ministry of Health in Muscat announced on Wednesday.

In Iraq, meanwhile, the first coronavirus fatality was revealed to be an elderly cleric who died in Sulaimani on Wednesday. The Kurdish and Iraqi authorities have closed their borders with Iran and cancelled direct flights to and from Iranian cities. The government has imposed a 14-day quarantine period on all Iraqi citizens returning from Iran.

Despite the coronavirus starting in China, though, Iraq has boosted monthly oil sales to Beijing by a third, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. February exports to China were said to be at their highest level of the past four years.

Now is the time for unity in the Middle East as coronavirus fears grip the region