Page 5 - MEOG Week 09

MEOG Commentary MEOG
ryan, said on Thursday that the apparent high mortality rate in Iran indicated its outbreak might be more widespread than realised.
A WhO mission is due to arrive in Iran on Sunday or Monday to help. Dr ryan said on Fri- day that its departure had been delayed due to “issues with getting flights and access to Iran”, but that the United Arab Emirates was helping.
President hassan rouhani has ruled out placing any cities or areas in quarantine, despite the head of the joint WhO-Chinese mission on Covid-19 saying such measures had helped “changed the course” of the outbreak in China.
Cases traced back to Iran have been reported in Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Canada, Georgia, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Paki- stan, and the United Arab Emirates. Many of these cases have been linked specifically to visits to Qom.
Iraq takes steps
Meanwhile Iraq has suspended issuing visas to Iranians and has taken steps to close its border with Iran.
Iraq banned Iranian nationals from entering the country and its own nationals from travelling to Iran on Thursday following an outbreak of the coronavirus in the Islamic republic. returning Iraqis will be examined and, if necessary, placed “in quarantine for 14 days,” the Iraqi health Ministry said.
Iraq has cultural and religious ties with Iran and annually receives millions of Iranian pil- grims but local Iraqi media reported that the health Ministry has decided to prevent Iranian citizens from entering the country until further notice. It has also banned public gatherings and barred entry by travellers from Kuwait and Bah- rain because of the spread of the new coronavi- rus, prohibiting travel to or from a total of nine countries.
On Saturday, Qatar became the latest Middle Eastern country to report its first case of corona- virus. The patient, a 36-year-old man, returned from Iran, The news came amid growing con- cerns in the Gulf, with Saudi Arabia having recently halted travel to holy sites such as Mecca and Medina. Visas for the pilgrimage have been suspended by Saudi’s Foreign Ministry, who also
announced travellers from countries affected by the virus will be denied entry, without naming them specifically.
oPeC
Iran is set to send a delegation to a critical March 5 meeting of OPEC ministers as the cartel looks for ways to respond to the potential slump in oil demand triggered by the coronavirus outbreak. Saudi Arabia has pushed for a further cut in pro- duction quotas.
The coronavirus outbreak has been pres- suring oil prices for weeks as Saudi Arabia-led OPEC and other oil producers try to gauge how the widening outbreak could affect global energy demand.
Fears surrounding the outbreak have sent prices down for a third straight session and the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said its oil demand growth outlook - already at its lowest level in a decade - might have to be trimmed again.
So far OPEC, which is dominated by Saudi Arabia has failed to persuade its allies to take action to offset the effect of coronavirus, but the Saudis are pushing to make a substantial cut in oil production when OPEC and its allies meet next week. The kingdom is asking producers including russia to sign up to a collective pro- duction cut of an additional 1million barrels a day, a significantly higher amount than dis- cussed before.
The plan is designed to show oil producers are able to respond to the sharp reduction in demand created by a virus that has paralysed global supply chains and stifled international travel.
Under the proposal, Saudi Arabia would account for the bulk of the new 1 million bpd cut, while Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and russia would split the rest.
The deal has not yet been agreed, however, with Moscow still hesitant to participate in a substantial cut when the full extent of the coro- navirus impact is not yet known.
however, after frequent false-starts at finding agreement for a production cut, the stars may be pointing to OPEC and friends crossing the fin- ishing line at last.™
Week 09 04•March•2020 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P5