Income inequality and its association with COVID-19 cases and deaths: a cross-country analysis in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

This increase in COVID-19 cases and deaths is underpinned by the fact that a large number of the population in the region is living in conditions of poverty, with inadequate housing, comorbidities and limited or virtually no access to essential healthcare services. Healthcare policy-makers across countries in the region need to implement effective interventions in areas of income inequality, where it may be linked to increasing the risk of COVID-19 cases and deaths.