Sudan announced on Friday its first case of the novel coronavirus following the death of a 50-year-old man the night before.

The Sudanese citizen had recently been in the United Arab Emirates, the health ministry said in a statement, without providing further details.

Dozens of COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the UAE.

Sudan on Thursday announced a series of measures against the novel coronavirus.

It closed its land border with Egypt and suspended flights from China, Iran, Italy, Spain, Japan and Egypt, a government statement said.

Sudan would stop granting visas to nationals of those countries and Sudanese were advised not to travel to them.

Mass gatherings have been discouraged, and the government has asked the health ministry and military medical services to prepare quarantine centres.