The Middle East’s confirmed COVID-19 death toll has surpassed 50,000 as of Thursday as the pandemic continues to affect countries socially and economically. This casualty count was determined by the Associated Press through analyzing numbers offered by health authorities within the region. However, the numbers may be an undercount as testing and data available in countries suffering from conflicts such as Yemen and Libya are extremely limited.
In Yemen, Houthi rebels who control parts of the country have refused to release information or statistics on COVID-19 infection and death rates. The hardest-hit nation is still Iran, which suffered the most from the infectious disease early on in the pandemic’s trajectory. In Iran, 21,900 have died while 380,000 have been infected.
Read More: Mideast’s confirmed coronavirus death toll goes over 50,000
