COVID-19 deaths on rise in Arab countries

Jordan and Algeria announced more coronavirus fatalities early today as they continued efforts to contain the disease, Anadolu Agency reports.

Jordan’s Health Ministry said 42 people died in the last 24 hours, taking the country’s death toll to 3,407.

The ministry said the virus was detected in 2,863 more people, taking the total number of infections to 262,477.

Another 4,187 patients recovered, taking the country’s tally to 222,654 patients.

Algeria’s Health Ministry announced 13 more deaths, taking the country’s death toll to 2,603.

READ: 25% of Jordan’s population contracted coronavirus, says official

The ministry said 431 new cases were identified in the last 24 hours, taking the country’s tally to 92,597.

A total of 60,888 people have recovered.

Since first emerging in Wuhan, China in December last year, COVID-19 has claimed more than 1.62 million lives in 191 countries and regions.

More than 72.8 million cases have been reported worldwide with over 41.2 million recoveries, according to figures compiled by US-based Johns Hopkins University.

While the US, India and Brazil remain the worst-hit countries in terms of the number of cases, Europe is in the grip of a devastating second wave of infections.