KUWAIT:  All private
and public schools and universities have been suspended for two weeks
beginning  March 1, government
spokesperson Tareq Al-Mezrem announced yesterday after an emergency Cabinet
meeting.  The Ministry of Commerce and
Industry later announced cancelling all planned exhibitions and events as well
as issuance of relevant permissions until further notice. In a press statement
yesterday, the ministry said the precautionary measure was taken in accordance
with the Cabinet's instructions after its meeting on February 17. It aims to
maintain public health and help control the coronavirus.

Earlier, the health ministry said the number of people
diagnosed with coronavirus in the country had risen to 26 after 14 more cases
were confirmed. The ministry also said in a statement that the new cases were
related to people traveling to Iran.Government agencies have been urging the
public to only refer to official news channels to obtain correct information
amid a barrage of fake reports that have gone viral.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has detected its first two cases of
novel coronavirus, a public health advisor to Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted
yesterday, days after Islamabad closed its land border with Iran, where 19
people have died from the virus.

Brazil's health ministry said yesterday a Sao Paulo resident
has been diagnosed with COVID-19, the first case recorded in Latin America. The
61-year-old patient had returned on February 21 from the Lombardy region of
Italy, the epicenter of an outbreak in the European country, Brazil's Health
Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said.

Iranian cyber police yesterday announced the arrests of 24
people accused of online rumor-mongering about the spread of a coronavirus
outbreak. The Islamic republic is scrambling to contain COVID-19 a week after
announcing the first two deaths in Qom, a centre for Islamic studies that draws
pilgrims and scholars from abroad.

Schools, universities and cultural centres have been closed,
sporting events cancelled and teams of sanitary workers deployed to disinfect
buses, trains and public spaces. International health experts have expressed
concern about Iran's handling of the outbreak -- the deadliest for any country
other than China. Such worries mounted on Tuesday when the head of the
taskforce combatting the virus, Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi, admitted
he himself had been infected.