Confirmed COVID-19 cases rise in Egypt, Saudi Arabia

CAIRO

The number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Saudi Arabia and Egypt continued to rise Monday as health authorities took measures to counter a large-scale outbreak.

Egypt’s health ministry said that so far, 59 people have contacted the virus, officially known as COVID-19, while 21 patients have recovered.

On Sunday, the ministry reported the first death from the coronavirus -- a German citizen.

With the latest five confirmed cases, 20 people are now infected in Saudi Arabia.

According to the country’s health ministry, four of the five were Saudi nationals, three of whom had arrived from Iran and Iraq. The fifth case was an Egyptian man who had arrived from Egypt.

The global death toll from the coronavirus is around 3,800 with some 110,000 confirmed cases since COVID-19 emerged in China in December, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The coronavirus has already crossed into 110 countries, with the WHO saying Monday that the "threat of a pandemic has become very real."

*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas