"Laboratory tests have confirmed the first novel coronavirus infection case," the ministry said, explaining that a Saudi citizen who arrived from Iran via Bahrain had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The patient has been quarantined in a medical institution where he is under medical supervision. All those the individual in question had been in contact with have been identified, the ministry said.

A pneumonia outbreak caused by the COVID-19 virus (previously known as 2019-nCoV) was reported in China’s city of Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center with a population of 12 million, in late December. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, describing it as an epidemic with multiple locations. Besides China, major coronavirus outbreaks have been reported in Italy and South Korea. A total of 70 countries, including Russia, have reported confirmed coronavirus cases.

According to the latest reports, the death toll in China, which, according to WHO estimates, accounts for the majority of novel coronavirus cases, has climbed to 2,900, 44,400 patients have recovered, while the total number of infected people has exceeded 80,000.

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