COVID-19: Iraq again records over 2,000 cases, as IRC issues warning

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Friday, the Iraqi Ministry of Health and Environment announced that it had recorded 2, 312 new coronavirus cases, while there had been over 100 deaths related to the disease in the past 24 hours.

In its daily statement, the ministry explained that it had conducted 12,176 new tests on individuals suspected of carrying the virus, out of which 2,312 came back positive.

 Since the outbreak of the virus, Iraq has recorded a total of 56,020 infections, including 2,262 deaths, and a total of 29,600 recoveries, according to official data.

Warning from International Rescue Committee

On Thursday, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) issued a dramatic statement, announcing that the number of Iraq’s COVID-19 cases had risen by 600% through the month of June.

Stressing the danger, the IRC warned that “efforts must be re-doubled” to slow down the spread of the highly contagious disease.

The IRC report highlighted an alarming statistic: the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Iraq on June 1 had been only 6,868. However, a month later, on July 1, the figure had jumped to 53,708.

Iraq’s health ministry had previously announced that the country’s hospital capacity was becoming overwhelmed and it was planning to convert universities and school buildings into makeshift COVID-19 hospitals.

Since late May, after opening its border with Iran, the original epicenter of the disease in the Middle East, Iraq has been recording increasingly higher numbers of coronavirus infections and deaths.

Read More: COVID-19 spikes again in Iran, with regional implications

The dramatic increase occurred, even as Iraqi authorities reintroduced partial curfews in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. Health officials have repeatedly expressed their fear of a collapse of the healthcare system.

In an effort to assist Baghdad in dealing with the crisis, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Thursday that it was supplying Iraq with urgently needed medical equipment.

WHO’s representative in Baghdad, Adham Ismail, stated that "WHO has allocated a shipment of medical aid to Iraq from its warehouses in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) city of Dubai." He explained that "the shipment includes 300 oxygen devices that will be distributed to government hospitals in cooperation with the Iraqi Ministry of Health."

“The government of the UAE will provide a plane to transport the WHO shipment from Dubai to Baghdad International Airport,” Ismail further explained.

The delivery of the aid package comes after Kuwait, Azerbaijan, and other regional countries have recently delivered similar assistance to help Iraq deal with its burgeoning health crisis.

Editing by Laurie Mylroie