Politics

COVID-19: Iraq declares holiday lockdown, reports over 2,400 more cases

The Iraqi government "imposes a nationwide curfew throughout the Eid Al-Adha holiday, from Thursday 30 July to Sunday 9 August."

Halgurd Sherwani 2020/07/26 14:46

middle east Iraq Total lockdown Eid al-Adha COVID-19

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi government on Sunday announced a total lockdown during the Eid al-Adha holidays, as the Ministry of Health and Environment reported 2,459 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours.

COVID-19 Figures

The health ministry said in its daily statement that health workers had conducted 17,511 tests over the past 24 hours, raising the total to 912,698 such tests since the start of the outbreak in Iraq in late February.

The ministry pointed out that over the same period, 78 patients died due to COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

The statement outlined the country had now reached 110,032 confirmed cases, of which 75,217 have recovered, about 68 percent of the total number of infections. There have also reportedly been 4,362 deaths due to the disease, while 30,453 cases remain active.

Also, the ministry noted that 433 patients are currently under intensive care.

Holiday Lockdown

As the number of infections continues to rise steadily, the Iraqi government declared a total lockdown set to start on the eve of the Eid al-Adha, on July 30, according to an official statement. The order does not include the Kurdistan Region as the regional government imposes its own lockdown rules.

Baghdad "imposes a nationwide curfew throughout the Eid Al-Adha holiday, from Thursday July 30 to Sunday August 9," the statement specified. Potential extensions, it noted, would be considered after the holidays.

Eid al-Adha marks the end of the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, called Hajj—a mandatory duty for Muslims who have the physical and financial means to carry out at least once in their lifetime.

The religious holiday is the second of two Islamic celebrations, the first one being Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the month of Ramadan.

On Friday, the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers announced the arrival of mobile healthcare units and medical supplies from Qatar and Jordan.

Health officials have expressed fears that the Iraqi healthcare system is on the brink as the number of daily infections began to spike in late May.

On Thursday, three of Iraq's international airports reopened for commercial travel, as the government moves to ease further restrictions that limited the spread of the virus.

The Kurdistan Region has not yet opened its two airports, but authorities have said they plan to do so on August 1.

The coronavirus has infected over 16.3 million people worldwide and killed more than 650,000, 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 Khrush Najari