COVID-19: Kurdistan Region daily infections drop to 645 cases

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Daily coronavirus infections in the Kurdistan Region dropped to below 650 cases on Tuesday after a recent spike in figures, the health authorities announced on Tuesday.

In their daily coronavirus update, officials from the regional health ministry announced 645 new infections over the previous 24 hours, out of over 5,437 tests completed in that period.

Adding the new figures, the Kurdistan Region now has 90,904 cases since the advent of the pandemic in early March.

They blamed the current spike in the number of patients, over 1,000 new cases per day, mainly on the public’s failure to follow health measures enacted to stem the spread of the highly contagious disease.

Following alarming surges in new cases, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has mandated that face masks be worn in public, with a fine of 20,000 Iraqi dinars (about $16) for those who fail to comply.

The health ministry also recorded 25 deaths over the past 24 hours, raising total fatalities to 2,891.

Health officials announced this week that over 31,000 COVID-19 patients are currently being treated for the disease in hospitals and clinics in the Kurdistan Region.

Read More: COVID-19: Kurdistan Region has over 31,000 patients under treatment

The health ministry says that over 55,000 people have recovered from the coronavirus, but it is important to note that a “recovery” indicates that a patient is no longer being actively treated by health professionals—not that they have fully recovered from the disease.

Increasingly, medical experts recognize that COVID-19 symptoms, some of them quite serious, often continue long after an individual’s formal recovery and that various other effects, such as significant lung damage, could be permanent.

UAE donates ambulances

The Emirates Red Crescent on Monday donated 10 ambulances to the Kurdistan Region’s health ministry in a bid to better support the autonomous region’s health care sector, official spokesperson Dr. Aso Hawezi announced.

The aid comes as the Kurdistan Region, amid a health crisis, has been grappling with a dire economic situation caused by low oil prices and the global pandemic.

The head of the KRG Department of Foreign Relations, Safeen Dizyaee, thanked the Gulf aid group for the assistance.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany