Tunisia's  Ennahdha party has reiterated calls for demonstrations on Friday marking the anniversary of the country's revolution, defying tightened coronavirus restrictions it says are politically motivated. Ennahdha is the biggest party in a parliament that was suspended by President Kais Saied in July 2021, and has staged a string of...

Omicron transmitted very efficiently between people due to a number of reason including make-up of the Covid-19 variant and increased social mixing and not adhering to measures such as physical distancing.

World Bank support for Iran's Covid-19 response is expected to help the country mitigate the ongoing humanitarian crisis within its borders, with the development lender having already called the nation the epicenter of Covid-19 infections in the region.

As the year drew to a close, the emergence of the Omicron variant pushed the number of daily new Covid-19 cases past one million for the first time. France on Friday became the latest country to announce Omicron was now its dominant coronavirus strain.

Hope remains for a better new year amidst scaled-back celebrations due to new restrictions aimed at slowing soaring Covid cases.

School constructions across Iraq will take two years and three phases.

Iran has said exporting vaccines manufactured by domestic producers was possible in a few months. Iran's deputy health minister for research and technical affairs Younes Panahi told Iranian media that some local producers made good progress and mass production of the vaccines will happen in the future. He said the...

Kais Saied presented a roadmap for restoring democratic institutions, and announced a nationwide public consultation from January 1 until March 20.

The decision is said to have come at a meeting of Oman’s Supreme Committee tasked with tackling developments resulting from Covid-19.

The WHO has made a ‘strong recommendation’ against the use of blood plasma in people who do not have serious Covid-19 symptoms.

There had been a spike in the number of children under five admitted to hospital since Omicron emerged.

The annual appeal by UN agencies and other humanitarian organisations said that providing aid to the 183 million most vulnerable people across 63 countries next year would require $41 billion.

Saudi Arabi on Wednesday recorded its first case of Omicron variant infection, in a citizen its health ministry said had come from a North African country. Hours later, the UAE announced it too had detected the strain within its borders, in an ‘African woman arriving from an African country via...

Stock markets across the MENA region suffered losses on Sunday as dip in oil prices and mounting concern over ‘Omicron’ weighed heavily on investors’ minds.

Fears mounted Saturday that a highly-infectious new coronavirus strain was pushing its way into Europe as the world brought the shutters down to contain the new Omicron variant.

Middle East markets were spared the November 26 bloodbath because they were closed on Friday and Saturday.

Firms linked to travel were among the worst affected as investors fretted over the possibility of more government-mandated restrictions.

The two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding in this regard in Riyadh on Thursday, November 18.

The money is coming in through the SFD, a Saudi government agency that usually finances social and infrastructure projects in developing countries.

Despite the disruption caused by the coronavirus lockdown Dubai and Abu Dhabi have continued to advance in the race to become the global hub for business, a new report by management consultancy Kearney indicates. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said a reduction of cases in any one country will not be sustained over time without a coordinated, equitable approach. ‘For everyone’s sake, we must urgently bring all countries to a high level of vaccination coverage,’ he said.

The company expects its operating profits at 15.8 trillion

The region’s per-capita GDP is forecast to grow by only 1.1 percent this year after declining by about 5 percent in 2020.

Egypt's net foreign reserves have risen to $40.672 billion in August from $40.609 billion in July, the central bank said on Monday.

Abu Dhabi lifted its quarantine requirement for vaccinated tourists on Thursday as the UAE recorded zero Covid deaths for the first time since November 2020. However, before boarding for Abu Dhabi, all travellers — both vaccinated and unvaccinated – are required to present a negative PCR test result from within...

The strain, known scientifically as B.1.621, has been classified as a "variant of interest", in the global health body’s weekly pandemic bulletin

Abu Dhabi will be effectively out of bounds for unvaccinated people from Friday in order to curb the transmission of the coronavirus in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

The UK government announced on Thursday that the UAE will be moved from the red to the amber list, as the situation in the country has improved. Bahrain, India and Qatar were also moved to the amber list, according to a statement issued by the UK Government.

A resurgent virus has returned with a vengeance, buoyed by stalling vaccination rates and deadly new mutations.

The kingdom reopened 1,909 mosques closed due to Covid-19 infections after cleaning measures during the past 173 days.  

Bahrain’s National Medical Taskforce for Combating the Coronavirus said the booster shots help maximize immunity against Covid-19.

The health ministry has set up temporary centres in six districts of the capital, and AFP journalists saw long queues outside the tents on Saturday morning

With a long-term forward-looking vision, the UAE continues its efforts to combat the spread of the COVID-19 variant, with the Ministry of Health and Prevention announcing the adoption of one of the most important modern pharmaceutical drugs that have proven its efficacy in treating the virus so that the country...

The kingdom seeks to repeat last year's success that saw no virus outbreak during the five-day Muslim ritual.

The country reports highest number of Covid cases this month at 9,635 Nearly 1.5 million Covid-19 cases have been reported in Iraq so far Iraq's health ministry reported 9,635 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, the highest figure this month, days after a medical facility fire killed dozens and re-ignited anger over...

More than two million people converge from around the world to perform the Hajj It will be for the second consecutive year that only Saudis will go to the two holy cities     Saudi Arabia will allow no more than 60,000 people, from the kingdom alone, to perform the...

The Fourth of July is a sacred day in our country. A day of history, of hope, remembrance and resolve with promise and possibilities. Before me stands monuments of the greatest and the goodness of our nation—monuments of light and liberty. There is a towering memorial to George Washington. The...

The United Arab Emirates leads the world, with enough vaccinations to cover 72.1 percent of its population and has overtaken Seychelles to become the world's most vaccinated nation, according to Bloomberg's Vaccine Tracker. The UAE has so far administered 15.5 million doses, enough to cover 72.1 percent of its population...

Many individuals such as diplomatic missions exempted Cases of Delta variant have been found in many countries Seeking to keep out the new dangerous variants of the coronavirus, the UAE government would not allow citizens to travel to 14 countries on its no-go list. The no-go countries – India, Pakistan,...

Ban to ensure the variant is kept out of the kingdom All travelers to the kingdom will have to undergo quarantine Alarmed at the outbreak of more infectious variants of the coronavirus in the world, and its neighborhood, Saudi authorities are banning travel, without prior permission, to and from the...

He said most people who died of Covid-19 in the country in April were not vaccinated  Oman has seen more than 257,000 Covid-19 infections,  2,848 deaths Oman’s Health Minister Ahmed Mohammed al-Saeedi told the country’s Supreme Committee on Thursday, June 24, that those who spread rumours against the Covid-19 vaccine...

The move is to ensure that all safety measures adopted by the government to keep the virus Only Saudi pilgrims can make the Hajj this year, like last year The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has cautioned pilgrims not to travel to Mecca to perform the Hajj unless they have...

Some 200,000 expats leave Oman as country wrestles with rising unemployment The Coronavirus pandemic and low oil prices last year drove the exodus Some 200,000 foreign workers left Oman in a year as the coronavirus pandemic and low oil prices dealt a blow to Omani economy, and the country now...

Travelers will have to quarantine for 10 days before the second test Passengers from ‘red-list’ countries need to present proof of residency Bahrain will now be testing all the passengers, for coronavirus, arriving from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka at Bahrain International Airport (BIA). The travelers will also...