COVID-19: Iraq announces 1,862 new cases, 299 in Kurdistan Region

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Tuesday, the federal Iraqi government reported 1,862 new cases of the coronavirus and 84 deaths in the previous 24 hours, while the autonomous Kurdistan Region announced  299 new infections and 11 deaths.

Iraq's national 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.

The Iraqi Ministry of Health and Environment said in its daily statement regarding the situation of the coronavirus in Iraq that 10,672 medical tests were conducted in Iraq and its regional counterpart announced that 2,247 tests had been carried out in Kurdistan.

The Iraqi Ministry’s statement also pointed out that the total number of national infections counted so far have reached 34,502 confirmed cases, including 1,251 deaths. Patients currently receiving medical treatment number 17,498, 283 of them in intensive care units.

The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Health specified that there have so far been 4,463 confirmed cases: 1,020 from Erbil province, 3,168 from Sulaimani, 154 from Duhok, and 121 from Halabja. Fatalities in the Kurdistan Region have reached nearly 300.

“Currently, at this peak of COVID-19 in Kurdistan Region, the community viral load has increased significantly as there has been an increase in carriers, symptomatic cases, severe cases, critical cases, overall transmission, and mortality,” said regional Minister of Health Saman Barznji in a statement. “This has resulted in a large number of active cases and low recovery discharges per day,” 

Barznji also stressed, yet again, that the single most effective way to guard against infection is still the combination of wearing face masks and practicing social distancing.

Since early May, Iraqi authorities have reported increasingly soaring numbers of new cases across the country as testing has ramped up and lax containment measures appear to have led to the further spread of the virus.

“The health teams and Diyala's Health Directorate are increasing their efforts to confront the epidemic and reduce both infections and deaths in light of the lack of commitment from large sections of society,” a medical official told local media, also mentioning that more than 160 health workers in that province alone have recently tested positive.

The coronavirus has infected more than 9.1 million people worldwide and killed over 473,000 according to government-reported data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The actual figures could be dramatically higher due to insufficient testing capabilities or underreporting.

Editing by John J. Catherine