As part of the serious measures it's taking amid the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak spreading across the region, the UAE announced major changes to its travel rules. 

As of Friday, all Emirati nationals, GCC citizens, and expats arriving or traveling from the Gulf state will "be required to use their passports, and not their national identity cards, to enter and exit UAE airports," Gulf News reported. 

The decision, which comes in line with the World Health Organization's recommendations, was issued by the UAE's Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA). It aims to curb the spread of the viral illness by allowing passport controllers to review the countries passengers visited in the last few weeks. This information is not usually featured on ID cards and is only available on passports.  

A source at ICA told Gulf News that "the suspension covers people [sic] all nationalities and expatriates who have registered with e-gate and are permitted to travel with ID cards."

UAE residents who left the Gulf state using ID cards and remain abroad are excluded from the directive, so are expats who arrived in the country and are still in the nation. 

The authority stressed that the suspension is temporary and subject to review as the outbreak continues to develop.

The first COVID-19 case to be reported in the region was confirmed by the UAE on Jan. 29. As of Thursday night, the Gulf state has confirmed a total of 19 cases. Five of those who were infected in the country made full recoveries while the rest continue to be monitored under quarantine.

The country continues to take strict measures in a bid to prevent the illness from spreading further. 

The virus, which originated in China's Wuhan in December 2019, is on the verge of becoming a pandemic as it has now been confirmed in 52 countries. 

As of Feb. 27, over 83,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus have been reported worldwide and the illness has claimed around 2,800 lives. 

The disease has also spread in the Arab world, which has seen a significant rise in cases this week mostly due to an outbreak in Iran. 

Iran has become the second center of contagion of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), outside of China, yet authorities and clerics in the country have refused to take the matter seriously. 

A local cleric from the Iranian city of Qom, the city at the center of the outbreak and where many Arabs had been visiting at the time of the spread, has suggested a "cure" for the new coronavirus. This so-called cure is the rectal administration of violet leaf oil. The essential oil is believed to ease pain, specifically for muscular and joint problems. It can also be used for coughs, bronchitis, colds, and sore throats. 

For most coronavirus patients, the virus begins and ends in the lungs. So maybe that's why the Iranian cleric thought the oil could be a preventive measure. But then again, what does the application to the anus have anything to do with that? 

Twitter users have been sharing cleric Ayatollah Tabrizian's post, which was reportedly shared on the social messaging service Telegram to over 120,000 followers. In it, the cleric accused Western medicine of being "un-Islamic." Instead, he listed several alternative techniques for fighting the novel coronavirus. 

According to The Daily Star UK, the cleric also advised people to protect themselves from the virus by consuming large amounts of brown sugar, onions, and apples. He also said that inhaling snuff (dried and finely ground tobacco) and burning wild rue could also be effective. 

The cleric is known for bizarre statements regarding medicine and Islam. He once said that "modern-day health problems and new diseases are caused by wrong lifestyles." He said that if people internalized Islamic lifestyles, people would "never need medical treatment and they would never go to the doctor's offices." 

With the spread of coronavirus in Iran, dealing with such a fast-spreading virus must come with serious measures. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though Iran is doing everything in its power to restrict the spread of it. For example, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani recently said that there are no plans to quarantine entire cities and towns, according to the BBC. 

The outbreak of the virus prompted the government to request the closure of major shrines in cities like Qom, Mashhad, and Shiraz. However, Iran's powerful clerics have rejected the notices and have kept the shrines open. 

One cleric, Mohammad Saeedi, has even said that people should visit the holy shrine of Masoumeh in Qom "to seek cure for coronavirus."

Many Bahrainis, Saudis, and other Arabs had been visiting Iran for religious purposes and came back to their home countries infected. The number of recorded cases in Bahrain is by far the worst of all Arab countries. On Thursday, a total of 33 people had been carrying COVID-19. 

Iran is the worst in the Middle East when it comes to number of people infected and number of deaths. As of Wednesday, Iran's novel coronavirus death toll climbed to 26, with 245 confirmed cases. Iranian officials, including the country's Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi, have tested positive for the virus. 

According to CNN, many schools and public offices around the country have closed. Officials have also banned hookah from cafés in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus in that manner.

The novel coronavirus has been spreading fast with new cases reported in the Middle East. 

The virus has now infected more than 82,000 globally, killing at least 2,800, according to the latest numbers.