MANAMA: Health ministers from the Gulf states will gather today for an emergency meeting to discuss growing concerns over the Covid-19 virus.
The extraordinary meeting will be held in Riyadh at the request of GCC Secretary General Dr Nayef bin Falah Al Hajraf and aims to identify the readiness of the six countries in identifying and confronting the deadly virus.
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) has claimed 1,874 lives and according to latest World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics there are 71,429 laboratory-confirmed cases, of which 2,162 are new.
A delegation from Bahrain, headed by Health Minister Faeqa Al Saleh, will attend the emergency meeting at the headquarters of the GCC General Secretariat.
“The role of the co-ordination committee of the GCC Health Council will be presented by the Secretary General to the Health Ministries in the GCC countries in this regard,” said the Health Ministry yesterday.
“The meeting will review the current situation in each country, including procedures followed, and statistics related to the disease and contingency and preparedness plans.”
The emergency meeting follows the WHO’s announcement on Sunday about a total of nine confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
Eight cases were reported by the UAE Health and Prevention Ministry between January 29 and February 9, and one was reported by the Egyptian Health and Population Ministry on February 14.