Kurdistan extends region-wide curfew until April 16

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Friday, the Kurdistan Region's Interior Ministry announced yet another extension to the regionwide curfew now in place to limit the outbreak of the new coronavirus. If not extended additional times, the measure will now least until April 16.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) first imposed a curfew on March 13, restricting the movement of vehicles, shutting down schools and universities, and suspending work in government institutions.

Since then, officials have extended the curfew and expanded its scope multiple times. For the most part, the public at large has cooperated, but security forces have sometimes needed to enforce the new rules.

When the first curfew order was initially announced, the number of known cases across the Kurdistan Region was 28. Now, the Health Ministry has so far confirmed 324 total infections, including three deaths and 136 recoveries.

In a statement on Friday, the Interior Ministry said the curfew would stay in effect until midnight of April 16 and includes a ban on non-emergency pedestrian movement. The order also stipulates that, from 6:00 pm until midnight, only health professionals and security forces were permitted to travel in any way.

The ministry also explained that authorities would grant individuals separated from their families—now in various cities or towns within the Kurdistan Region—to return home within the next 24 hours starting midnight on Friday. To pass through security checkpoints, they must present official government documents that prove their places of origin.

On late Thursday, the Health Ministry confirmed nine new cases of coronavirus in the Erbil province, adding that seven of them had participated in the now-infamous two funeral gatherings in Erbil city's Karizan neighborhood that has resulted in dozens of infections.

Related Article: Kurdistan health teams use targeted coronavirus testing as funeral outbreak spreads

The coronavirus has infected over 1.6 million people worldwide and killed close to 100,000, according to government-reported data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The actual figures could be dramatically higher due to insufficient testing capabilities or underreporting.

Editing by Kosar Nawzad and John J. Catherine