Letter to the Editor
Dubai Med J 2020;3:58–60
DOI: 10.1159/000508662
Gulf Countries Responding to COVID-19
Nouf Alabdulkarim a Fahad Alsultan b, c Shahid Bashir d
a College
of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; b King Saud Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;
c Prince
Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; d Neuroscience Center, King Fahad Specialist Hospital,
Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Dear Editor,
Since the outbreak, SARS-CoV-2 posed a near impos-
sible challenge for containment and non-transmission
around the globe. The outbreak was first recognized in
early March in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the United
Arab Emirates (UAE), and large-scale containment ef-
forts started by the mid of March. The virus spread
through the respiratory route, caused a spectrum of ill-
nesses, including very mild cases, was rapidly transmitted
between humans with an epidemic doubling time of
about 1 week, and was surreptitiously spreading for at
least 1 week. According to the WHO, the pandemic is ac-
celerating at an exponential rate. The first 100,000 cases
took 67 days, the second 100,000 took 11 days, the third
100,000 took just 4 days, and the fourth only 2 days. Now
there are 100,000 individuals infected in 24 h. As more
and more countries report cases, including those with no
link to the disease epicenter, it is clear that there are many
more unrecognized cases in the world and that commu-
nity transmission is happening in many countries.
The gulf countries, like others, released a series of pro-
tective measures in order to halt the spread of the CO-
VID-19 pandemic. Travel bans are an effective public
health tool to control an epidemic disease [1], it was en-
forced in all gulf countries at different times. Saudi Ara-
bia (SA) was the first gulf country to issue a ban on trav-
eling to China on citizens and residents [2]. Additionally,
SA has extended the travel ban to all international flights
[1]. In Kuwait, all flights were suspended [3]. Citizens
were prohibited temporarily from traveling abroad in the
© 2020 The Author(s)
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Received: April 25, 2020
Accepted: May 12, 2020
Published online: July 3, 2020
UAE [4]. In addition, the Civil Aviation Affairs in the
Kingdom of Bahrain has announced that flights to and
from Iraq and Lebanon are suspended until further no-
tice [5].
Religious activities in the gulf countries are essential
for the population, ranging from the five daily prayers in
mosques to umrah, which is a religious duty performed
by Muslims in Mecca, SA (holy city for Muslims). While
praying, people stand adjacent to each other with their
shoulders touching; therefore, suspending all prayers at
mosques was an essential step that was undertaken in all
gulf countries [6]. In SA, not only umrah was suspended
but also the two holy mosques were closed for most of the
day [1].
Various efforts were performed to ease the detection
of possible cases. For instance, UAE launched a mobile
drive-through test center, where individuals can get test-
ed while remaining in their cars, therefore minimizing
contact with other possible cases [7]. Moreover, the Abu
Dhabi Health Services dedicated the Al Ain Hospital to
coronavirus patients [8]. Furthermore, Oman has called
for volunteers to aid in measures to combat COVID-19
[9].
In SA, as part of the precautionary measures to curb
the spread of COVID-19, King Abdullah Medical City,
Mecca, has activated the virtual clinics initiative at outpa-
tient clinics, serving more than 12,000 patients [10].
Moreover, the minister of health in SA has announced
that medical doctors can issue e-prescription in an au-
thenticated manner via an app [11].
Shahid Bashir
Neuroscience Center, King Fahad Specialist Hospital
Ammar Bin Thabit Street
Dammam 31444 (Saudi Arabia)
sbashir10 @ gmail.com
 Table 1. The progression of COVID-19 across the gulf countries

Country Population Age distribution Total confirmed Total Case fatality

cases deaths rate

USA 332,639,102 0–14 years: 18.46% 241,703 5,854 2.42%

15–24 years: 12.91%
25–54 years: 38.92%
55–64 years: 12.86%
65 years and over: 16.85%
Italy 62,402,659 0–14 years: 13.45% 119,827 14,681 12.25%
15–24 years: 9.61%
25–54 years: 40.86%
55–64 years: 14%
65 years and over: 22.08%
Spain 50,015,792 0–14 years: 15.02% 117,700 11,947 10.15%
15–24 years: 9.9%
25–54 years: 43.61%
55–64 years: 12.99%
65 years and over: 18.49%
China 1,394,015,977 0–14 years: 17.29% 82,875 3,335 4.02%
15–24 years: 11.48%
25–54 years: 46.81%
55–64 years: 12.08%
65 years and over: 12.34%
Saudi Arabia 34,173,498 0–14 years: 24.84% 2,039 29 1.42%
15–24 years: 15.38%
25–54 years: 50.2%
55–64 years: 5.95%
65 years and over: 3.63%
UAE 9,992,083 0–14 years: 14.45% 1,263 9 0.70%
15–24 years: 7.94%
25–54 years: 68.03%
55–64 years: 7.68%
65 years and over: 1.9%
Qatar 2,444,174 0–14 years: 12.84% 1,075 3 0.27%
15–24 years: 11.78%
25–54 years: 70.66%
55–64 years: 3.53%
65 years and over: 1.19%
Bahrain 1,505,003 0–14 years: 18.45% 673 4 0.59%
15–24 years: 15.16%
25–54 years: 56.14%
55–64 years: 6.89%
65 years and over: 3.36%
Kuwait 2,993,706 0–14 years: 24.29% 479 1 0.20%
15–24 years: 14.96%
25–54 years: 52.39%
55–64 years: 5.43%
65 years and over: 2.92%
Oman 4,664,844 0–14 years: 30.15% 277 2 0.72%
15–24 years: 17.35%
25–54 years: 44.81%
55–64 years: 4.02%
65 years and over: 3.68%

COVID-19 in Gulf Countries Dubai Med J 2020;3:58–60 59

DOI: 10.1159/000508662
 The gulf countries case fatality rate is low in compari- Funding Sources
son to the top COVID-19-striken countries (USA, China,
No funding was received.
Italy, Spain), age distribution being a possible explana-
tion (Table 1) [12].
Author Contributions
Disclosure Statement N.A. and F.A. conception of the letter; N.A., F.A., and S.B. col-
lected the information; and all three authors wrote and reviewed
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. the manuscript.

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60 Dubai Med J 2020;3:58–60 Alabdulkarim/Alsultan/Bashir

DOI: 10.1159/000508662