COVID-19: Kurdistan Region announces 14 deaths, 232 new infections in last 24 hours

The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Health announced on Monday that it had recorded 14 deaths and 232 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Health announced on Monday that it had recorded 14 deaths and 232 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours.

The statement from the health ministry also explained that it had quarantined 126 people over the past 24 hours, as the number of individuals currently in quarantine reached 1,227 individuals in 21 different locations, with 577 in Erbil, 156 in Sulaimani, and 494 in Duhok.

The health ministry statement noted that it had conducted 1,771 tests for the coronavirus, 618 of them in Erbil, 302 in Sulaimani, 476 in Duhok, and 254 in the Garmiyan Administration, which includes the three districts of Kalar, Kifri, and Chamchamal. There were also 31 tests in Halabja and 90 in the Rapareen Administration.

The ministry reported that 232 tests were positive for the virus: 85 in Erbil, 46 in Sulaimani, 59 in Garmyan, 27 in Rapareen, 1 in Dohuk, and 14 in Halabja, while 92 individuals had recovered from the virus.

“The number of coronavirus infections is increasing drastically,” Mohammed Qadir, Spokesman for the Ministry of Health, warned, as he discussed the issue with Kurdistan 24.

“The threat of the virus lies with infected individuals who are not showing any symptoms,” he stated. “There are many people who are infected, but they are not showing any symptoms yet, and they are becoming a source of infecting others.”

“If this continues, we are heading towards a disastrous situation,” Qadir added, as he warned, again, about the serious danger that the virus poses to public health.

Qadir explained that the aim of the curfew, which is to take effect in Erbil, starting from tomorrow, is to decrease the rate of interaction between infected people with other individuals who are not infected

Qadir stressed that the fight against the coronavirus is not limited to the actions of the Ministry of Health. Citizens, too, must do their part.

“It is everyone’s fight and their responsibility to keep themselves and their surroundings safe,” he said, adding, “If the number of new infections keeps rising at the current rate, the ministry will be able to do little to handle it.”

“So it is also the decision of the citizen, as to where the situation will be heading,” he stated.

The coronavirus is the worst global health epidemic in a century, and people have not experienced such a danger in living memory. Therefore, their response may be inadequate, and their failure to follow the guidance of the health ministry could prove very harmful.

The Spokesperson for the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Health also elaborated on the visit of an Iraqi medical team to Russia to acquire medicine used there against the virus. “The experiments on the drug show promising results,” he said, “as it was used to fight the flu before, although we will wait until it is manufactured by local medical companies with high quality.”

According to the region’s health ministry, the number of infections has reached 5,904, with 1,322 of them in Erbil province, 4,229 in Sulaimani, 139 in Duhok, and 56 in Halabja. There are 3,939 active cases in hospitals. So far, there have been 200 deaths, 26 in Erbil, 170 in Sulaimani, and four in Halabja.

The current wave of the disease goes back last month to the opening of the borders with Iran in both the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.

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

The original epicenter of the disease in the Middle East, Iran never managed to gain effective control over the virus, and the situation there is growing steadily more serious.

Every day this month, Iran has recorded over 100 deaths from the coronavirus, and on Monday it announced a record of 162 deaths over the previous 24 hours.

Editing by Laurie Mylroie