Region

TEHRAN — Iran on Tuesday announced that confirmed coronavirus infections had reached almost 100,000 in the country as fresh cases picked up again after a brief drop in recent days.

"The number of confirmed infections with this disease is now close to 100,000," Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said in televised remarks.

"We lost 63 of our countrymen in the past 24 hours, reaching a total of 6,340 deaths from COVID-19 to date," he added.

Jahanpour said that another 1,323 people tested positive for the virus during the same period, bringing the overall number to 99,970.

Two-thirds of the fresh cases were "those sampled as outpatients" or family members of those infected, Jahanpour said.

On Saturday, Iran's new daily infections hit their lowest since March 10 but they have picked up again since then.

According to Jahanpour, 80,475 of those hospitalised with the disease since Iran reported its first cases in mid-February have been discharged, while 2,685 are in critical condition.

Doubts have been cast over Iran's coronavirus figures by experts and officials both at home and abroad.

Iran has reopened mosques in parts of the country deemed at low risk from the virus after allowing a phased reopening of businesses since April 11.

The Islamic republic is using a colour-coded system of "white" for low-risk parts of the country, "yellow" for medium-risk zones and "red" for high-risk areas.

Hamshahri reported that southern provinces such as Sistan and Baluchistan, Hormozgan, Fars and Bushehr had the most white areas.

Other provinces are mostly still yellow, while Qom, the virus' epicentre in Iran, was red with a "rising trend" of new infections.

Ministry officials have warned that an area being "white" does not mean "the situation is normal" there, and that the condition can reverse at any time.

MANAMA — After turning a car park into an intensive care unit for coronavirus patients, Bahrain has set up its second field hospital -- on a man-made island.

The facilities are among five that the authorities plan to build to add 500 critical care beds to its health sector in case of a spike in novel coronavirus.

The new 154-bed field hospital, staffed by 55 doctors and 250 nurses, took 14 days to build and adjoins a quarantine camp.

Its large white tents house rows of hospital beds as well as a laboratory, pharmacy and X-ray machines.

Located off the Gulf state's east coast, it is the first crisis facility set up far from a hospital.

"This is done as a precautionary measure for COVID-19 patients in case they need to have ventilation and then ICU healthcare," Dr Nayef Louri told reporters at the facility.

A fenced gate guarded by two police cars provides the only access to a dirt road that leads to the island that has been earmarked for development projects.

Last month, Bahrain opened its first field hospital, converting a car park outside the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital near Manama into an intensive care unit with 130 beds.

The Gulf country, whose population stands at 1.5 million, has recorded more than 3,300 cases of coronavirus, with eight deaths.

Shaikh Khalid Bin Ali Al Khalifa, commander of Bahrain Royal Medical Services, said most of the cases currently were among the community of foreign workers.

Being in a low-risk group, few had required intensive care, he said.

However, the other field hospitals on the drawing board would be rolled out if the current extra facilities reached 50 per cent occupancy.

"It is better to be safe than sorry," he told reporters.

BEIRUT — Protest-hit Lebanon has approved an economic rescue plan and requested aid from the International Monetary Fund(IMF) as it battles its worst financial crisis in decades.

But how did Lebanon become one of the most indebted countries in the world? What's the plan out of this quagmire, and how likely is it to work?

How did we get here?

After the 1975-1990 civil war, Lebanon set about rebuilding, launching itself on a path of endless borrowing and ballooning debt.

Successive governments focused on developing an economy built around services and tourism, and fuelled by foreign investment, all dependent on stability.

But they neglected structural reforms, as a political class deeply divided along sectarian lines allowed cronyism and graft.

"The economic crisis is, at its core, a governance crisis emanating from a dysfunctional sectarian system that hindered rational policymaking and permitted a culture of corruption and waste," experts wrote in a January report published by Carnegie Middle East.

Over the years, Lebanon was also rocked by a wave of assassinations, the 2006 war with Israel and then a series of attacks after war broke out in Syria in 2011.

Repeated political deadlocks stalled decision-making, with lawmakers on one occasion failing to elect a new president for more than two years.

The debt grew as spending increased, including to subsidise a loss-making electricity sector dependent on fuel imports and to pay high interest rates on the loans themselves.

The balance of payments deficit also deepened as growth slowed, while an oversized banking sector offered huge interests on deposits.

By late 2019, Lebanon had racked up a debt equivalent to 170 per cent of its GDP.

The pound has plummeted from 1,507 to more than 4,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar on the parallel market in recent weeks, and inflation has soared.

Banks imposed crippling capital controls in the autumn, while deteriorating living conditions sparked mass cross-sectarian protests.

What's the plan?

An economic reform plan the cabinet approved on April 30 aims to unlock foreign aid, restructure the debt, and cut back on spending including in the electricity sector.

Lebanon aims to drum up $10 billion in financial support, on top of $11 billion in grants and loans pledged by international donors in 2018.

But the five-year austerity plan includes measures likely to be unpopular such as a freeze on recruitment in the public sector.

It has also been calculated according to an exchange rate of 3,500 pounds to the dollar.

Nasser Yassin, associate professor of policy and planning at the American University in Beirut, said the plan was a good "diagnosis" of the situation but not complete.

"It's an attempt to solve this thorny crisis through financial and accounting tools to obtain foreign aid through the IMF, yet it imposes harsh conditions when it comes to social benefits and austerity measures," he said.

"The poorest levels of society and the middle class are the ones who will pay the price, with high inflation and the contraction of the economy expected."

Up to 45 per cent of Lebanon's population already lives in poverty, official estimates show.

 Will it work?

Yassin said such a plan to "redesign the state's financial management" could have benefitted from more consultations on how to break away from the old model of a free-market economy to attract foreign capital.

Its implementation is expected to run up against the interests of political parties in the public sector, he added.

Mohammad Faour, a research fellow in banking and finance at University College Dublin, agreed much depended on "how cooperative the political class will be in enacting them in parliament".

"There's always this worry that political bickering will get in the way," he said.

MPs will need to approve many parts of the plan, including accepting foreign aid, restructuring the debt, and imposing new taxes.

President Michel Aoun has invited the leaders of all parliamentary blocs to discuss the plan Wednesday.

The government, formed in January after protests ousted its predecessor, does not enjoy huge popular support.

But it is backed by key political forces including Shiite movement Hizbollah, which has seats in parliament despite the United States -- and now Germany -- labelling it as "terrorist".

"It will be a hard slog, but Lebanon can get back on its feet with a solid reform plan that is front-loaded with international support," Faour said.

"But the main concern is whether internal politics will permit the implementation of a credible plan."

BAGHDAD — Daesh group remnants in Iraq are exploiting a coronavirus lockdown, coalition troop withdrawals and simmering political disputes to ramp up deadly attacks, according to analysts and intelligence officials.

The bloodiest so far was an ambush early Saturday that killed 10 Iraqi fighters north of Baghdad that observers say demonstrated a new escalation in the  group's tactics but one that could still be contained.

Iraq declared Daesh defeated in late 2017 but sleeper cells have survived in remote northern and western areas, where security gaps mean the group wages occasional attacks.

They have spiked since early April as terrorists plant explosives, fire on police patrols and launch mortars and rockets at villages, local security sources told AFP.

"Combat operations have reached a level we haven't seen in a while," said Iraqi security expert Hisham Al Hashemi.

He said Daesh fighters were using abandoned villages to edge towards urban areas, looking to re-establish funding mechanisms, smuggling routes and hideouts while targeting local infrastructure and officials to cause panic.

Days before early Saturday's ambush -- which was multi-pronged and took place in Salahaddin province -- the terrorists claimed a suicide attack that wounded four people outside an intelligence headquarters in Kirkuk, a restive northern province.

An intelligence officer there said Daesh had tripled its attacks in Kirkuk in April compared to March.

In the rural Diyala region northeast of Baghdad, daily attacks on agricultural fields have terrified farmers and recalled memories of Daesh steady build-up across Iraq.

Adnan Ghadban, a tribal sheikh in the city of Baquba, said two of his relatives were shot in their fields last week by Daesh fighters. They both remained in a critical condition, he added.

"What's happening now is taking us back to 2014," he said, referring to the year when Daesh seized swathes of the country in a lightning offensive.

'Opportunistic increase'

In part, the escalation may be linked to security units being redeployed to enforce a nationwide lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has infected more than 2,000 people and killed over 90 in Iraq.

"These fighters took advantage of the fact that security forces were busy with imposing the curfew and began to move around much more freely," Ghadban told AFP.

The terrorists could also be exploiting the political deadlock in Baghdad, where top leaders are focused on tense talks over a new government, the consequences of a collapse in global oil prices and budget disputes with autonomous Kurdish authorities.

"Daesh fighters have sensors on the political situation. Every time it deteriorates, they opportunistically increase their activity," said Fadel Abu Raghif, an Iraqi analyst focused on political and security affairs.

Abu Raghif and the Kirkuk intelligence officer said a significant troop drawdown by the 7,500-strong US-led coalition had also paved the way for Daesh  to boost attacks.

The international alliance deployed in Iraq in 2014 to help local troops defeat the terrorists by providing air strikes, advice, surveillance and combat support.

Seeing that the threat from Daesh had "shifted", the coalition has pulled out of five Iraqi bases in recent weeks, including in Kirkuk and Daesh's former stronghold of Mosul.

It also redeployed hundreds of trainers out of the country indefinitely, as Iraqi security forces had halted training programmes to limit possible COVID-19 transmissions.

Despite years of training, the US Defence Department assessed this year that Iraqi troops were still unable to adequately collect and use intelligence in anti-Daesh raids on their own, or maintain operations in tough terrain without coalition help.

"Without a US troop presence in Iraq, Daesh would likely resurge," the Pentagon's inspector general wrote.

'Crude, elementary'

Still, analysts and observers said the recent wave of Daesh attacks did not mean the group could once again threaten cities like it did in 2014.

"Daesh will not be able to return to its former size," said Abu Raghif, meaning the UK-sized "caliphate" that the extremists declared across swathes of Iraq and Syria.

A senior official in the US-led coalition told AFP it had noted "successful low-level attacks" by Daesh in recent weeks but did not consider them a "substantial uptick".

"It's not just the number of the attacks but what's the quality of the attack? Is it complex? What equipment or tactics were used? Most of what we've seen has been crude and elementary," the official said.

Sam Heller, an independent analyst focused on jihadist groups, said the recent shift hardly compares to the peak of Daesh activity around the creation of the "caliphate".

Instead, they were "seemingly indicative of the group's more aggressive posture, not necessarily new and impressive capabilities",  he wrote.

TEHRAN — Iran on Monday reopened mosques in parts of the country deemed at low risk from coronavirus, as it said almost 80,000 people hospitalised with the illness had recovered and been released.

Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said 74 new fatalities brought to 6,277 the total number officially recorded in Iran since it reported its first cases in mid-February.

Iran on Sunday recorded 47 deaths, its lowest daily count in 55 days.

Another 1,223 cases of COVID-19 infections were recorded in the past 24 hours, Jahanpour said, raising the total to 98,647.

Mosques were Monday allowed to reopen to worshippers in 132, or around a third, of Iran's administrative divisions which are considered low-risk.

The country has started using a colour-coded system of "white", "yellow" and "red" for different areas to classify the virus risk.

Worshippers were obliged to enter mosques with masks and gloves and told they can only stay for half an hour during prayer times and must use their personal items, said the health ministry.

Mosques were told to refrain from offering them food and drinks, provide hand sanitisers and disinfect all surfaces, it said in a statement published by ISNA news agency.

According to Jahanpour, 79,397 of those hospitalised with the disease since Iran reported its first cases in mid-February have been discharged, while 2,676 are in critical condition.

He said Iran was among "top five countries in the world" with the highest number of recoveries, without elaborating.

Experts and officials both in Iran and abroad have cast doubts over the country's COVID-19 figures, saying the real number of cases could be much higher than reported.

President Hassan Rouhani said Iran had "succeeded in effectively preventing the spread of this virus in many" parts of the country.

Speaking at a televised videoconference meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, Rouhani said Iran's response to the outbreak "has in instances been evaluated to be beyond international standards".

But the US "anti-human rights" sanctions against the Islamic republic had hampered its efforts to control the virus, he added, noting that they prevented companies from selling Iran its medical needs.

US President Donald Trump withdrew from a landmark nuclear deal and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Iran in 2018, targeting key oil and banking sectors.

Humanitarian goods, especially medicine and medical equipment, are technically exempt.

But international purchases of such supplies are forestalled by banks wary of conducting any business with Iran for fear of falling foul of the US sanctions.

BASRA,Iraq — Bushy moustaches, thick Syrian accents, fistfights in 1930s Damascus and... medical masks? A parody of a popular Syrian television show is raising awareness on curbing the coronavirus outbreak in neighbouring Iraq.

Artists in Iraq's southern port city of Basra have adapted the beloved characters of "Bab Al Hara" ("The Neighbourhood Gate") — a 10-season period drama watched across the Arab world — to convince their compatriots to take the pandemic seriously.

In one skit, the show's main character Abu Issam returns to the Syrian capital Damascus unannounced after a long absence, just in time to keep his son from getting into a street fight.

"Put on your mask!" Abu Issam, played by Iraqi artist Mohammad Qassem, scolds his son.

When his wife — also played by Qassem — later draws close to welcome him home, Abu Issam slaps her.

"Don't you know that hugging and kissing are forbidden? We're in the time of corona[virus]! Disinfect the house!"

The scenes are meant to be lighthearted, but the messages behind them are no laughing matter, Qassem told AFP.

"We created these skits to raise the public's awareness of what measures the health ministry has asked them to commit to, how to disinfect and clean your hands, and how to abide by the lockdown," he said.

 'The world is crazy'

Iraq imposed a nationwide lockdown in mid-March to combat the spread of the virus, but relaxed measures to an evening and weekend curfew last week.

People quickly flooded the streets as stores opened across the country, with very few practising social distancing or wearing masks and gloves.

The language of comedy may convince people to take preventative action against the virus in ways government orders could not, said Youssef Al Hajjaj, who plays Abu Issam's son in the "Bab Al Hara" parody.

"These sketches use comedy to spread information about staying protected when leaving your homes," Hajjaj said.

Pop hits have also been used to persuade Iraqis to stay home, including a remixed music video of a beloved Egyptian hit featuring a police officer at a checkpoint.

"Corona's got us under curfew here, the world is crazy and full of fear," he croons.

Iraqi singers Wissam Daoud and Thaer Hazem were quick to put out their own tune, a ballad set to the jumpy percussion typical of Iraqi music.

"Be careful and don't go out, it'll get easier day by day. That's how you'll stay well and this crisis will go away," they advise.

Iraq has recorded more than 2,000 novel coronavirus cases, including over 90 deaths, although many suspect the real number of cases is much higher as authorities have yet to introduce widespread testing or contact tracing.

Basra, where health services are notoriously poor, is witnessing an uptick in infections, with nearly 100 new cases in recent days raising the total to 450.

Authorities fear a jump in case numbers could overwhelm Iraq's dilapidated health system — ravaged by decades of conflict and underdeveloped due to little investment and widespread corruption.

 'Stay strong'

Qassem and his team have dedicated songs to medical staff and other artists have produced skits to show solidarity with those working long hours at Iraqi hospitals.

One video depicts a young female nurse calling her husband from the hospital, tearfully confessing she was exhausted.

"Stay strong. It's not any tougher than what we've already been through," he tells her over the phone.

Artistic director Abdullah Khaled, 28, considered it an "artistic responsibility" to support medical staff and spread reliable information about the virus.

Another film his team produced features practical tips, including how to disinfect produce and limit outings to one person per household.

Khaled's team says these videos, viewed thousands of times on Instagram, would have more of an impact than the government's conventional communications strategy.

"Awareness through videos is one of the most important tools we have to persuade people to protect themselves," said the videos' 29-year-old director Mustafa Al Karkhy.

"These videos are why people stay safe."

TEHRAN — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said mosques would reopen across large parts of the country on Monday, as officials reported a drop in the number of deaths from the novel coronavirus.

Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said 47 people died of the virus over the past 24 hours, the lowest daily count in 55 days.

He told a news conference he hoped "the trend will continue in the upcoming days".

His remarks came as President Hassan Rouhani said 132 counties, around one third of the country's administrative divisions, would "reopen their mosques as of tomorrow".

"Social distancing is more important than collective prayer," he said in a televised meeting of the country's virus taskforce.

The president argued that Islam considers safety obligatory, while praying in mosques is only "recommended".

Rouhani did not give the names of the counties affected by the measure or the number of mosques due to reopen on Monday.

The measure is not expected to be implemented in the capital, Tehran, or in the main Shiite holy cities of Mashhad which are among those most affected by the outbreak.

Mosques and some key Shiite shrines in Iran were closed in March amid the Middle East's deadliest COVID-19 outbreak.

The targeted counties are "low-risk", Rouhani said.

The virus taskforce was also mulling reopening schools by May 16 to allow for a month of classes before the summer break.

According to Jahanpour, the 47 new deaths brought to 6,203 the total number officially recorded in Iran since it reported its first cases in mid-February.

He added that 976 fresh infection cases were confirmed in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 97,424.

Over 78,420 of those hospitalised have since been discharged, while 2,690 are still in critical condition.

Experts and officials both in Iran and abroad have cast doubts over the country's COVID-19 figures, saying the real number of cases could be much higher than reported.

 Qods Day cancelled

Rouhani claimed hospital visits over potential infections were "much lower" compared to recent weeks.

He said it is due to "83 per cent of people on average observing health protocols" and thanked Iranians for their "cooperation".

The Islamic republic has tried to contain the spread of the virus by shutting universities, cinemas, stadiums and other public spaces since March.

But it has allowed a phased reopening of its economy since April 11, arguing that the sanctions-hit country cannot afford to remain shut down.

Only "high-risk" businesses like gyms and barbershops remain closed.

"We will continue the reopenings calmly and gradually," Rouhani said.

Yet he warned that Iran should prepare for "bad scenarios" too, saying "this situation may continue into the summer".

Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Sunday announced they were cancelling the annual day of protests against Israel known as Qods (Jerusalam) Day seemingly over the coronavirus pandemic.

Spokesman Ramezan Sharif, quoted by Fars news agency, said the move was in line with the cancellation across Iran of other ceremonies and the closing of holy places.

"Let's not worry about what the enemy might say," he added.

The day has been held every year since the 1979 Islamic Revolution to show support for the Palestinians and is usually marked on the last Friday of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which falls on May 22 this year.

ALGIERS — Algerian singer Idir, a leading cultural ambassador of his native Kabylie and its Berber language, died in Paris on Saturday, aged 70, his family announced.

Idir, who suffered from pulmonary fibrosis, was hospitalised on Friday.

"We regret to announce the death of our father [of us all], Idir," a message posted on his official Facebook account said. Contacted by AFP, his family declined to comment further.

Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune called him "an icon of Algerian art".

"With his passing, Algeria has lost one of its monuments," Tebboune said on Twitter.

France's former president Francois Hollande also paid homage to Idir, saying he "entranced entire generations with the rhythms of his dulcet, rich and moving melodies".

UNESCO praised Idir as an "eminent ambassador of the Kabylie and Berber cultures".

Idir, whose real name was Hamid Cheriet, was born on October 25, 1949, in Ait Lahcene, near the Kabylie capital of Tizi Ouzou in northern Algeria.

He studied to be a geologist, but in 1973 was tapped as a surprise last-minute replacement for the Kabylie diva Nouara on Radio Algiers to sing "A Vava Inouva", a lullaby set to acoustic guitar that is an ode to the rich oral traditions of Berber mountain villages.

The song became hugely popular in Algeria and beyond, but Idir was unaware of its success, having been drafted for mandatory military service soon after the recording.

'Beautiful harvest'

In a 2013 interview, Idir told AFP he "came at the right time, with the right songs" that evoked the rhythms of daily life he had heard since a baby.

He travelled to Paris to record his first album, also titled "A Vava Inouva", in 1975.

But after a series of tours and another album, he decided to abandon the music industry, until 1991, when the release of a compilation album relaunched his career.

Installed in France, he became an impassioned advocate of his native Kabylie, while also defending multiculturalism and immigration as they became key issues in his adopted country's 2007 presidential race.

French football legend Zinedine Zidane, whose family hails from Kabylie, wrote of Idir on Instagram: "You marked my childhood... I will never forget our meeting".

Algerian writer Kamel Daoud joined the praise, tweeting, "He knew how to turn our roots into such a beautiful harvest, soothing and generous."

After a 38-year absence, Idir returned to Algeria in January 2018 for a Berber New year concert in the capital.

The following year, he defended the popular uprisings that led to the resignation of longtime leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

"I loved everything about these protests: the intelligence of these youths, their humour, their determination to remain peaceful," Idir said in April 2019.

"I admit that these moments were like a breath of fresh air. And since I have pulmonary fibrosis, I know what I'm talking about."

TUNIS — Medics have deployed a robot in a Tunisian hospital caring for coronavirus victims to limit contact between staff and infected patients, in a first for the North African country.

The tall, single-limbed machine is mounted on wheels and is capable of taking pulses and checking temperatures and blood oxygen levels.

It enables nurses, doctors and patients' relatives to make virtual bedside visits.

"It allows a reduction in contact with the sick and therefore the risk of contaminating personnel," said Nawel Besbes Chaouch, a doctor leading the pulmonary department at the Abderrahmane Memmi hospital in Ariana, near the capital Tunis.

A screen mounted at the top of the robot enables audiovisual communication with patients, who in turn can see and recognise the faces of those caring for them -- an impossibility when medics otherwise have to use full protective gear.

A website allows families to reserve a time slot for a virtual visit, where the robot is remote-controlled into the patient's room to allow a video conversation.

The robot was designed and made in Tunisia, by Enova, a start-up based in Sousse.

SANAA — While many of the world's markets have closed to curb the spread of coronavirus, in Yemen's capital Sanaa, downtown districts selling qat — the ubiquitous mild narcotic -- still bustle with people.

Flouting social distancing rules, Yemenis jostle to select bunches of the chewable leaf from vendors packed into the narrow lanes crowded with stalls.

"If the qat markets were closed, believe me when I say that 98 per cent of Yemeni people would object," Sanaa resident and avid consumer Ali Al Zubeiry told AFP.

"We appeal to the authorities not to close the qat markets because Yemenis live off it," he said -- while adding it would probably be a good idea to move them to a more open space.

Yemen, mired in civil war since 2014 and long the Arabian Peninsula's poorest nation, is a major producer and consumer of qat, which is banned in some countries but has been part of Yemen's social fabric for thousands of years.

The country was once best known for its coffee industry, but the easy profits from qat meant it eclipsed that trade and spread into other agricultural lands — around the Red Sea and in African countries such as Ethiopia and Somalia where it also flourishes.

A wad of the leaves is packed into the cheek and slowly chewed. The World Health Organisation (WHO)estimates that 90 per cent of adult males in Yemen partake for several hours a day, with some women and children also adopting the habit.

Policemen can be seen on the streets chewing the green plant, stashed in plastic bags next to them while they carry out their duties.

"The chewing of qat leaves releases chemicals structurally related to amphetamines, which give the chewer a mild high that some say is comparable to drinking strong coffee," according to the WHO.

Qat sellers in Sanaa, the northern capital that is controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, continue to display bags of their product to customers in the markets, transacting without precautionary measures like masks or gloves.

'Without this I'll starve'

Yemen has been largely spared the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, with a total of six cases recorded so far, but the country announced its first two deaths from the respiratory disease on Wednesday.

The United Nations has warned that six years of war -- pitting the Houthis against the government and their backers led by Saudi Arabia -- has left the health system in tatters, and a major outbreak would lead to a humanitarian catastrophe.

The insurgents, who control much of the north including Sanaa, have suspended schools and flights to ward off the pandemic but so far have been unable to shut down the qat markets.

Many Yemenis resorted to selling qat after the war broke out and their salaries dried up.

Ahmed Saleh, a public school teacher who has not been paid in four years, said that selling qat is his "main source of income".

"Closing the markets because of the coronavirus will lead to starvation," he told AFP. "Many people depend on the buying and selling of qat."

Muthir Al Marouni, director general of the insurgent-run health department in Sanaa, said he expects the markets will close soon because they "could become a major source for the spread of the virus".

"People's lives are more important than the markets," he told AFP.

However, he admitted that such a decision would be hard to enforce considering how many people depend on the trade.

"The decision must be carefully studied and a solution found... to ensure people can continue to live," Marouni said.

Home delivery

While many people continue to shop at crowded qat markets, others in Sanaa have opted for home delivery to fuel hours-long sessions with family and friends.

"After the spread of the coronavirus, many are scared to go to the market and have asked that their qat be delivered to their homes," seller Ghaleb Al Huseimy told AFP.

"They have one condition -- that I be the only one that touches the product."

Omar Al Abi is one customer who has opted for the delivery service because of fears of catching the virus.

"Qat could become a primary reason for the fast spread of the virus because the markets are extremely crowded," he told AFP. "More than 50 people could have touched one bag."

Committed users like Walid Al Dhahawi say it will take more than a pandemic to stop Yemenis from chewing qat -- a cultural tradition passed from generation to generation.

"There is no event without qat," he said during a long session with friends.

"It is the glue in society... during times of happiness and mourning."

Abdulkarim Al Marani and Shatha Yaish