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17th August 2020
Coronavirus infections have been rising sharply in Morocco over the last few weeks, with a record 1,776 new cases reported on Sunday. This is a major setback for the North African country which, for a while, had come close to bringing the virus under control. By early June its strict lockdown… Read more
15th August 2020
Week ending 15 August 2020   REGIONAL OVERVIEW   The Middle East and North Africa has seen an overall rise in Covid-19 infections during the past week, with an average of almost 13,600 new cases reported each day.  Among the 20 countries monitored, only three –… Read more
11th August 2020
Jordan – so far the most successful of the Arab countries in controlling the coronavirus – has reported a sudden spate of new cases which appear to have a connection with Syria. On Monday health minister Saad Jaber said 24 locally-occurring infections had been detected during the previous four… Read more
8th August 2020
Week ending 8 August 2020   REGIONAL OVERVIEW   In the Middle East and North Africa the Covid-19 pandemic appears to be slowly subsiding. A month ago, new infections across the region were running at almost 16,000 a day. Since then, the seven-day daily average has… Read more
1st August 2020
Week ending 1 August 2020   REGIONAL OVERVIEW   More than 97,000 new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in the Middle East and North Africa during the past week, though many others are not recorded in the official figures. Among the 20 countries monitored, Iran… Read more
25th July 2020
Week ending 25 July 2020   REGIONAL OVERVIEW   More than 1.2 million people in the Middle East and North Africa have so far been infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus. Across the 20 countries monitored new cases currently average around 14,000 a day, though many… Read more
18th July 2020
Week ending 18 July 2020   REGIONAL OVERVIEW   The past week has brought a small but possibly significant decline in the overall number of new Covid-19 infections across the Middle East and North Africa.  Over the past seven days new cases in the 20 countries… Read more
13th July 2020
When the coronavirus swept into the Yemeni city of Aden there was little to stand in its way. The war-torn country was already in the midst of a humanitarian crisis and this time last month people were falling ill and dying in untold numbers. Few received any medical treatment because the… Read more
11th July 2020
Week ending 11 July 2020   REGIONAL OVERVIEW   More than a million people in the Middle East and North Africa have now been infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus according to official figures, though many more cases have probably gone undetected. Among the 20… Read more
5th July 2020
By: Brian Whitaker
During the last two weeks the Gulf state of Oman has seen a shift in the pattern of its coronavirus epidemic. Previously, most of the new infections were occurring among foreigners – predominantly migrant workers from poor countries. That has now changed and the majority of new cases are Omani… Read more