Iran, West Bank impose strict new measures to stop virus' spread
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s battle against the coronavirus intensified on Friday with stricter travel bans to block the disease’s spread, even as the death of a former senior official and the rapidly rising number of infections highlighted how hard it will be.
Motorways and smaller roads in two provinces by the Caspian Sea were closed, with police turning drivers back.
A Health Ministry spokesman insisted that Gilan and Mazanadaran provinces, both tourist hotspots that have seen a particularly high number of coronavirus cases, were not under quarantine.
The government advised Iranians to keep personal contact to a minimum and use the telephone and mobile messaging services to keep in touch with family and friends.
An additional 17 deaths in the last 24 hours have shown that the outbreak is far from being under control in the country. The official toll now stands at 124.
The number of infections has gone up by about a quarter, to 4,747 in the past day, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said.
Earlier it was announced that former Iranian deputy foreign minister Hussein Sheikholeslam had died after contracting the virus.
The 67-year old diplomat died early Friday morning in a hospital in Iran’s capital city of Tehran, Tasnim news agency reported.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described him in a press release as a friend and always a fair-minded diplomat.
The virus that originally emerged in central China about three months ago is now having an enormous impact on everyday life throughout the Middle East.
A health emergency was declared in the West Bank after 14 Palestinian workers — and two associated family members — at a Bethlehem hotel were confirmed as infected with the new coronavirus.
The declaration means that schools, national parks and all “tourist and religious areas” will remain closed until the emergency is declared over, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. Nonetheless, mosques were seen operating on Friday.
The Israeli Defense Ministry said late that it was not possible to leave or enter the city. According to Palestinian media reports, around 1,500 tourists are now stuck in hotels in Bethlehem but will start to leave on Saturday.
All hotel bookings will be canceled. Gatherings, parties and demonstrations are banned.
Should all houses of worship stay closed for a month, that would push the shutdown very close to April 5, Palm Sunday, the day when many Easter festivities in the region kick into high gear. Many Christians flock to Bethlehem and other sites during the Easter season because of their links to Jesus Christ.
The world-famous Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, believed to mark the birthplace of Jesus, was already closed on Thursday afternoon.
Some 2.9 million Palestinians live in the West Bank.
In neighboring Israel, some 100,000 people were reportedly in home quarantine as of Thursday, after the Health Ministry imposed stricter travel entry rules in an effort to stop the new coronavirus.
Twelve new cases of the novel coronavirus were also discovered on board a ship on the river Nile, the Egyptian Health Ministry reported on Friday.
The new cases are Egyptians working on the boat where a Taiwanese tourist, who later tested positive for the virus, had stayed, the ministry said in a joint statement with the World Health Organization.
The latest cases brings to 15 the total number of infections confirmed by Egypt.
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(Reporting also was done from Ramallah, West Bank.)
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