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Review
. 2020 Jun;13(6):839-842.
doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2020.05.020. Epub 2020 May 29.

Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries: Current status and management practices

Thamir A Alandijany  1 , Arwa A Faizo  2 , Esam I Azhar  2
Affiliations
Review

Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries: Current status and management practices

Thamir A Alandijany et al. J Infect Public Health. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is currently a global threat to human population. The numbers of cases and deaths due to COVID-19 are escalating daily, putting health care systems worldwide under tremendous pressure. Policymakers in the affected countries have adopted varying strategies to deal with this crisis. As a result, the current COVID-19 status in terms of number of cases and deaths hugely varies between countries. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have managed to limit the massive spread of the infection among their populations by implementing proactive plans and timely decisions in response to COVID-19 outbreak; measures taken included suspension of flights, closure of educational institutes, curfew and lockdown of major cities, and provision of free-of-charge healthcare to patients. This review summarizes the COVID-19 status as of 18 May 2020 and highlights prevention and control measures applied in the GCC countries.

Keywords: COVID-19; Public health; SARS-CoV-2; Viral respiratory infections.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The cumulative numbers of cases, recovered patients, and deaths in the GCC countries.The actual cumulative numbers of cases (top), recovered patients (middle), and deaths (bottom) are shown for Saudi Arabia (green), Kuwait (blue), Qatar (maroon), Bahrain (red), Iraq (brown), Oman (orange), and UAE (purple). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Responses of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to the COVID-19 outbreak. Key control measures and management practices undertaken in Saudi Arabia (green), Kuwait (blue), Oman (orange), Iraq (Brown), Bahrain (red), Qatar (maroon), and UAE (purple) are shown. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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