Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have joined the growing list of countries that have closed cinemas amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
According to The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday, the UAE, Gulf region's biggest market in terms of the box office, and Saudi Arabia announced that they would shut down all theatres for a minimum of two weeks. The move makes Bahrain, Oman and Egypt the only Middle East countries to still have cinemas open for business.
Authorities in the UAE Emirate of Dubai tweeted: "In line with ongoing efforts to safeguard public health, The Department of Economic Development directs all cinemas, theme parks, amusement games & electronic game centres, bodybuilding & fitness gyms & spring camps licensed in Dubai to halt all their activities & services until end of March 2020."
In Saudi Arabia, which registered 118 cases of coronavirus, authorities have shut down malls except for food stores and pharmacies and prohibited restaurants and cafes from serving meals.
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