COVID-19: Iraq announces just under 2,300 new cases, 35 deaths
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq's Ministry of Health and Environment announced on Tuesday 2,292 new coronavirus infections and 35 deaths due in the past 24 hours.
The health ministry’s statement mentioned that it had conducted 26,504 tests in the last 24 hours, making a total of 3,319,514 tests since the beginning of the outbreak in Iraq. The total number of infections in Iraq reached 539,749 and 12,031 deaths.
Health officials also gave an update on the treatment protocol for the coronavirus, following the decision of the World Health Organization (WHO) to cease the use of the drug Remdesivir.
"The Ministry of Health is updating its protocols in line with the latest developments in the pandemic," ministry spokesman Saif Al-Badr said in a statement.
WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on the previous day that "there is a danger of crushing the poor and vulnerable during the race to obtain vaccines for the coronavirus."
"There is an urgent need for $4.3 billion for a global plan to share vaccines," said Ghebreyesus, speaking during a virtual press conference in Geneva.
Dozens of countries have so far signed the global vaccination plan known as COVAX, developed by the WHO and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization that its organizers describe as "a global initiative that brings together governments and manufacturers to ensure eventual COVID-19 vaccines reach those in greatest need, whoever they are and wherever they live."
Earlier in the day, the outgoing representative of the WHO in Iraq expressed his optimism about the Kurdistan Region’s ability to ultimately contain the coronavirus pandemic within its borders, expressing the organization's willingness to help the autonomous region of Iraq to obtain vaccine doses once they are manufactured.
Read More: WHO 'impressed' with Kurdistan Region's coronavirus response
Today's infection and fatality figures reported by the Iraqi federal government in Baghdad do not include the most recent developments in the autonomous Kurdistan Region, which has its own health ministry and typically announces results later in the day. As such, Kurdistan's figures are usually added to the following day's national tally.
Read More: COVID-19: Kurdistan Region registers 500 new cases in 24 hours
The coronavirus has infected nearly 60 million people worldwide and killed over 1.4 million, according to Johns Hopkins University’s database. The actual figures could be dramatically higher due to insufficient testing capabilities or underreporting.
Editing by John J. Catherine