Bahrain counted its first case of the coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 illness on Monday in a school bus driver who transited Dubai while coming from Iran. Later, it confirmed a second case, also a traveler from Iran via Dubai. Irans government said Monday that 12 people had died nationwide from the new coronavirus, rejecting claims of a much higher death toll of 50 by a lawmaker from the city of Qom that has been at the epicenter of the virus in the country. The conflicting reports raised questions about the Iranian government’s transparency concerning the scale of the outbreak. Afghanistan, Kuwait, Iraq, and Oman also announced their first cases of the virus on Monday and connected them to travel with Iran. The UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula, has reported 13 cases of the new virus. Most of those were connected to Chinese travel. Meanwhile, Kuwait said on Tuesday three more nationals had been infected with the coronavirus, all of them people who had returned from Iran, state news agency KUNA reported. The three new cases - who were in a stable condition and under quarantine - brought the total number of in Kuwait to eight, KUNA said. Kuwait had halted over the weekend transport links with Iran and was evacuating its citizens from Iran.