Kurdistan to give provinces leeway on relaxing curfew; minister warns of new 'dangerous phase' of COVID-19
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region announced on Tuesday that local provincial governments will be given the authority to implement certain relaxations of current health regulations amid a new temporary region-wide curfew following a spike in new coronavirus cases.
"All the governors and departments in the Kurdistan Region's provinces have requested authority to reassess the situation, make some adjustments, and mitigate the imposition of the curfew to facilitate citizen’s lives," said Reber Ahmed Kurdistan Region’s Minister of Interior during a press conference.
"At the same time, we asked them to adhere to health procedures."
He continued, "If we do not comply with health regulations, we will reach a dangerous phase and new infections, including deaths, will be very high," adding that the curfew will remain in place and the inter-provincial travel ban will continue. He advised citizens now outside the autonomous region to return after the end of the temporary measure.
On late Sunday, announced that the complete lockdown would last six days, following a record-breaking rate of new infections to curb the further spread of the highly contagous disease, formally known as COVID-19.
Read More: KRG to impose region-wide lockdown amid spiking COVID-19 cases: Interior Ministry
The Kurdistan Region’s health ministry reported 35 new coronavirus cases on Monday as a senior official suggested that the authorities did not know the origin of parts of the new outbreak in Sulaimani province.
Read More: Source of some new COVID-19 infections in Kurdistan’s Sulaimani ‘unknown,’ health official warns
On Tuesday evening, the mayors of both Erbil and province announced that starting on Wednesday, certain markets, shops, and other public places recently closed as part of the new partial curfew would be reopened with the condition that all present follow preventive health measures of social distancing.
According to the health ministry’s reports on Tuesday, there have been a total of 797 infections, including 14 deaths. Of the total active cases, 274 are in Sulaimani province.
The highly contagious disease has infected nearly 6.4 million people worldwide and killed more than 378,000, 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