(Bloomberg) -- The United Arab Emirates, the Middle East’s business hub, will shut schools for four weeks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

All public and private schools and higher education institutions will be closed from March 8. A pilot program for distance education will be implemented during the last weeks of the period.

  • Education ministry will sterilize school, university facilities and buses
    • Ministry on March 2 started pilot stage of distance learning initiative for all government schools
    • NOTE: Kuwait, Bahrain have already shut schools
  • Link to WAM statement

Foreigners make up about 85% of the U.A.E.’s population, and Dubai and Abu Dhabi are home to major global financial institutions. The country has already restricted travel to China, Iran and Saudi Arabia as it races to prevent the spread of the outbreak.

Many conferences and business meeting have also been canceled or delayed, while nurseries have been shut since March 1. The U.A.E. has reported 27 confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

Mideast, North Africa Breakdown:

  • Iran: 2,336 cases, including 77 deaths
  • Kuwait: 56
  • Bahrain: 49
  • U.A.E.: 27
  • Iraq: 30
  • Lebanon: 13
  • Oman: 12
  • Israel: 12
  • Qatar: 8
  • Algeria: 8
  • Egypt: 2
  • Tunisia: 1
  • Jordan: 1
  • Saudi Arabia: 1
  • Morocco: 1
  • NOTE: Global Fatality Rate 3.4%; Olympics Delay Possible: Virus Update

Read more:

  • Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak Across the World
  • Click VRUS on the terminal for news and data on the coronavirus and here for maps and charts. For analysis of the impact from Bloomberg Economics, click here.

--With assistance from Farah Elbahrawy.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shaji Mathew in Dubai at shajimathew@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at cmaedler@bloomberg.net

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