Kuwaiti officials on Friday announced the death of an Egyptian physician who had contracted the coronavirus, the first doctor to pass away from the disease in the Gulf nation.

Kuwaiti Health Minister Basel Al-Sabah said that Tarek Hussiein Mekhaymar, an ENT physician at Kuwait’s Zein Hospital, had passed away due to complications from the virus.

According to Kuwaiti media, Mekhaymar, 62, was on the medical frontlines in combating the virus in the Gulf country.

Sources told Kuwait’s Al Rai that Mekhaymar died in intensive care several days after he was first placed in isolation, having tested positive for the virus.

He had been working in Kuwait for over 20 years, they added.

Kuwait’s coronavirus case toll reached 7,208 on Friday, according to state-run Kuwaiti News Agency (KUNA).