Saudi Arabia on Monday temporarily suspended flights to and from nine countries as part of measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus as the number of cases in the region continued to rise.
The Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation said flights by carriers operating from the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, South Korea, Egypt, Italy and Iraq would be stopped until at least Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia will also impose a fine of up to 500,000 riyals on people who do not declare correct health-related information at entry points, state TV reported.
The moves followed the discovery of four new cases, including an American who visited Italy and the Philippines, raising the total to 15.
The kingdom had already shut land and sea borders, closed educational institutions indefinitely and ordered a lockdown in the eastern province of Qatif, where 11 cases were detected.
All cases in the province were reported to be linked to a person who had returned from Iran, the worst-affected country in the region.
Saudi King Salman announced assistance of $10 million to the World Health Organisation to help it battle the coronavirus, which has infected more than 110,000 people worldwide and killed more than 3,800 since it emerged in China late last year.
The death toll from the virus in Iran rose to 237 on Monday with 43 more deaths in the previous 24 hours.
State TV said 595 new infections were detected in the same period, raising the number of confirmed cases to 7,161.
Qatar announced it would shut down schools and universities from Tuesday until further notice.
It barred entry to travellers from China, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria and Thailand.
The Qatari Health Ministry said the number of cases in the country stood at 18, 17 of which were related to travel to Iran and the other one to Italy.
Nine patients had completely recovered, while others "are in a stable condition", the ministry said.
Bahrain's Health Ministry raised the number of coronavirus cases detected to 95, while the government extended a two-week closure of all private and public schools and universities until March 29.
Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad also barred all government officials from overseas travel related to work or training for two weeks.
In Kuwait, the number of Covid-19 cases rose to 65 with the Health Ministry announcing one more confirmed infection on Monday.
Parliament was scheduled to convene on Tuesday to hear updates from the government on the situation, the Kuwait News Agency reported, quoting National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al Ghanim.
Egypt's southern tourist centre of Luxor was on Monday closed to visitors until medical experts could examine all hotel guests and cruise ship passengers in the area.
Two cruise ships on the Nile River have been quarantined there in recent days, after 45 people on board one of them tested positive.
There were no immediate details on the second ship.
On Sunday night, Cairo said the number of coronavirus cases across Egypt had reached 55, with one fatality.
He was a German tourist, 60, who was admitted to the hospital on Friday after travelling from Luxor.
Meanwhile, Lebanese Health Minister Hamad Hasan warned that the coronavirus was still in the early stages of spreading in the country, which has 32 confirmed cases so far.
