COVID-19: Iraq announces new increase in cases, crosses 2000 total deaths

The Iraqi Ministry of Health and Environment on Wednesday announced an increase of 2,415 new coronavirus cases.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Ministry of Health and Environment on Wednesday announced an increase of 2,415 new coronavirus cases, a new high in the past few days. The ministry also announced another 107 fatalities, raising the national total coronavirus-related death tally to more than 2000 since the outbreak began in Iraq.

In its daily statement, the ministry mentioned that 11,378 tests had been conducted in 24 hours, making the total nearly 556,000. It also outlined the total number of infections had reached 51,524 confirmed infections, including 26,267 recoveries, 2,050 deaths, and 23,207 active cases.

Today's figures do not include the most recent developments in the Kurdistan Region, which has its own health ministry and typically announces results later in the day. As such, Kurdistan's figures are usually added to the following day's national tally.

Since late May, Iraq has been recording increasingly higher numbers of new coronavirus infections and deaths, even as authorities reintroduced partial curfews in efforts to curb the spread of the virus. Amid the crisis, health officials have repeatedly expressed fears of a collapse of the healthcare system.

On Tuesday, a shipment consisting of 25 tons of preventive medical equipment from the Republic of Azerbaijan arrived at Baghdad airport to be distributed to the health ministry's departments throughout several Iraqi provinces. Iraqi authorities have said that the recent spike in cases and fatalities is partially due to shortages of such equipment, including prevention and sterilization supplies and pulmonary resuscitation devices

The World Health Organization (WHO), in cooperation with Iraq's health ministry, launched a four-week campaign on Monday in Baghdad's high-risk neighborhoods aimed at increasing awareness among its population of hygiene practices that would help to prevent transmission.

The effort includes mobilizing 250 volunteers to deliver "critical" messages to nearly six million people in attempts to help curb soaring infection rates, the WHO headquarters in Iraq tweeted.

On June 10, the organization's representative in Iraq stated that the premature resumption of trade with Iran, by both Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, had been a significant factor in the dramatic spike in new cases of the deadly disease.

Read More: WHO: 'Breach' of health regulations, trade with Iran behind new COVID-19 spike in Iraq, Kurdistan

Editing by Khrush Najari