COVID-19: New cases in Iraq remain high as decision to reopen schools criticized

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq’s Ministry of Health and Environment on Thursday announced 3,298 new coronavirus infections and 50 deaths over the past 24 hours.

According to the latest health figures, the total number of infections in Iraq has reached 511,806 since the first confirmed case in February, 11,532 of them fatal.

Earlier on Thursday, the Parliamentary Health and Environment Committee objected to the Ministry of Education's decision to start the new school year, warning of an increase in infection rates that it sees as a likely result.

"The Ministry of Education is supposed to wait for the decision to start the new academic year 2020-2021 and postpone openings until further notice," said committee member Wafa Hussein, who added that "the situation in the country is very difficult in financial and economic terms, as well as the coronavirus pandemic's other impacts on society."

He charged that "the education decision to reopen schools is incorrect, as it cannot control the number of students and preventive measures," explaining that "the issued decision stipulates the presence of 15 students in each class, but the truth for each class is about 50 students and much more than that in elementary schools."

"The Parliamentary Health and Environment Committee does not support at this time the reopening of schools and the start of official working hours, especially since students in primary schools are children and are not committed to preventive measures." 

Minister of Education Ali Hamid said in another statement that an integrated plan has been prepared in preparation for the new school year, pointing to the direction of a new type of education that mixes traditional in-person learning with electronic means.

The minister also clarified that school attendance will be "one day per week and four days at home via the internet," and added, "The student who cannot access the internet can follow lessons on educational television."

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’s total deaths top 2,700

The coronavirus has infected more than 52 million people worldwide and killed over 1.29 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