Iran meanwhile raised the official death toll from the virus to 15 killed amid 95 confirmed infections.

The UAE, home to long-haul carriers Emirates and Etihad, remains a key international transit route for Iran's 80 million people.

The flight ban, which will last at least a week, shows the growing concern over the spread of the virus in Iran amid worries the outbreak may be larger than what authorities there now acknowledge.

The announcement came after Bahrain said it would suspend all flights from Dubai and Sharjah, a neighbouring UAE emirate that is home to Air Arabia, for 48 hours.

However, the outbreak in Iran only became public in recent days.

The novel coronavirus has infected more than 80,000 people globally, causing around 2700 deaths, mainly in China.

The World Health Organisation has named the illness COVID-19, referring to its origin late last year and the coronavirus that causes it.

Iran's government said Tuesday that 15 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 epicentre of the virus in the country.

The conflicting reports raised questions about the Iranian government's transparency concerning the scale of the outbreak.

The new death toll came from Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour during an interview with Iranian state television.

He said there were 95 confirmed cases of the virus in Iran, with many linked to Qom, a major Shi'Ite religious centre where other cases have emerged.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sought to reassure the nation in a speech on Tuesday, calling the new coronavirus an "uninvited and inauspicious passenger."

"We will get through corona," Rouhani said.

"We will get through the virus."