Palestine declares state of emergency to tackle coronavirus outbreak

Four new cases of the coronavirus have been detected in the occupied West Bank bringing the total number of infections to 35 and forcing the government to declare a 30-day state of emergency yesterday.

The cases have been found in the Bethlehem and patients have been quarantined.

Iran, which has the highest number of coronavirus cases in the world after China, has reported 11,364  people infected with 514 deaths. Satellite pictures, first reported by the New York Times, show two large burial trenches, recently dug in Behesht-e Masoumeh cemetery, about 80 miles south of Tehran, which are expected to be used to bury those affected.

Satellite images show Iran has built mass graves amid coronavirus outbreakhttps://t.co/be1gnlEZx4

— Arizona Democrat 🇺🇦 (@LiterateLiberal) March 13, 2020

In Lebanon, banks will close tomorrow in order to take steps to sanitise branches and prevent the spread of coronavirus, the country’s banking association said in a statement today. Lebanon has so far recorded 77 cases of coronavirus and three deaths, according to the health ministry.

READ: Lebanese pupils mess around in online class

The Turkish health minister said a second patient has been confirmed with coronavirus today. The Turkish presidential spokesman also announced primary and secondary schools will be closed next week to avoid the spread of the virus. Some 90,000 mosques were sterilised across the country ahead of Friday prayers today.

On social media, users shared what appeared to be a video of the late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein talking about the coronavirus, fuelling claims the disease was began as part of biological warfare efforts.

The former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein talks about the threat of Corona virus nearly 20 years ago in this video. https://t.co/7bhewg2BmP

— Mohammed Soleiman 3 (@Mohammed230619) March 8, 2020

But Raghad Saddam Hussein, the daughter of the late president, denied the authenticity of the video and wrote on Twitter that “the clip is fabricated”, and that the voice is of someone else and not that of her father.

فيديو مفبرك .. و الصوت مركب لشخص آخر يقلد صوت الرئيس الشهيد صدام حسين ..

سبق و ان نشر هذا الشخص نفسه اكثر من فيديو يقلد صوت الشهيد صدام حسين ،، و من يدقق يعرف الصوت تقليد و ليس صوت الرئيس الشهيد .. pic.twitter.com/Y9wv8YHgJN

— رغد صدام حسين (@RghadSaddam) March 8, 2020

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