Bangladeshi national infected with coronavirus in UAE

The United Arab Emirates said on Friday it had registered two new coronavirus cases, including one Bangladeshi national, bringing the total number of people diagnosed with the virus in the Gulf Arab state to 11.

The new cases in the UAE were detected in a 39-year-old Bangladeshi national and a 34-year-old Filipino, both of whom had been in contact with a Chinese national diagnosed with the virus, the health ministry said in a statement.

It said the two were in stable condition.

More than 2,100 people have died in China from the new virus—officially named COVID19—that emerged in Wuhan in December. New research is suggesting the virus is more contagious than previously thought, and has added to the international alarm over the outbreak.

The UAE, a major international air transit point and tourism and business hub, recorded its first coronavirus case on January 28 when four members of a Chinese family were diagnosed.

It has since suspended passenger flights to mainland China, with the exception of Beijing.

Most of those diagnosed in the UAE with the virus are Chinese citizens. Another Filipino national and one Indian national have also been infected, according to the health ministry.

Of those previously diagnosed, three Chinese nationals have fully recovered, the ministry said.

The government has not disclosed where patients were being treated or which parts of the country they visited.

Meanwhile, in Singapore, five Bangladeshi nationals have so far been infected by coronavirus. One of the five is in very critical condition, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen had said on Wednesday quoting Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan.