Kurdistan Region confirms 10 new COVID-19 cases; total reaches 113

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Health announced on Friday in its latest update on the number of new coronavirus cases that 10 individuals had been confirmed to have caught the contagious disease in the autonomous region over the past 24 hours. 

This brings the tally of confirmed cases in the autonomous region of Iraq to 113 cases, including two deaths, and 39 that have recovered.

The statement explained that that, in this time period, 477 people suspected of having been infected with COVID-19 had been tested. Of these, a 28-year-old woman and three youths in Erbil province had tested positive as well as a 56-year-old woman in Sulaimani and five others, all members of the same family, in Duhok.  

The ministry added that 5,144 individuals in total had been held in quarantine in 34 different locations across the Kurdistan Region since the first case of the virus was registered. Health care professionals have approved the return home of 3,439 of them, leaving 1,651 remaining in isolation from the general public.

The statement thanked medical teams, health facilities, and security forces for their efforts to stop the spread of the virus and renewed its calls to residents to stay in their homes, not to interact with each other, and abide by all anti-coronavirus instructions and regulations.

In addition to anti-coronavirus regulations declared by the federal government in Baghdad, the Kurdistan Region has enacted multiple strict precautionary measures as part of attempts to block the spread of the disease, including closing schools, declaring an extended public holiday for government employees, canceling all religious services and other public gatherings, and curfews across the region. The regional interior minister has emphasized that curfews “will be extended if needed.” 

On Thursday, Iraqi officials extended the countrywide curfew aimed at curbing the spread of the disease until April 11 as nationwide infections, including the Kurdistan Region, reached 382. 

Read More: Iraq extends coronavirus curfew as cases continue to rise

By Friday, the total number in Iraq had grown to 458.

Nearly 575,000 people are confirmed to have contracted the virus in over 180 countries worldwide, according to data compiled by WHO. More than 26,000 have died, as per official numbers reported by governments around the world, though the rate could be dramatically higher due to insufficient testing capabilities or underreporting.

Editing by John J. Catherine