Politics

Erbil to test two Nepalese workers smuggled into city amid COVID-19 lockdown

The Erbil Traffic Directorate announced on Wednesday that it had foiled an attempt to smuggle two Nepalese nationals into the city during a strict coronavirus lockdown that restricts such movement of the general population do curb the spread of the contagious disease.

Mustafa Shilani 2020/03/25 18:51

kurdistan Kurdistan Erbil Security COVID-19

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Erbil Traffic Directorate announced on Wednesday that it had foiled an attempt to smuggle two male Nepalese nationals into the city during a strict coronavirus lockdown that restricts such movement of the general population do block the spread of the contagious disease.

“Erbil traffic police checkpoints seized a vehicle this morning that was planning to pass two Nepalese workers through the checkpoints and into Erbil in exchange for money,” read a statement by Fazil Haji, a traffic police spokesman in the Kurdistan Region's capital. The statement did not specify where the vehicle had crossed into Erbil province from.

Haji also pointed out that the driver had already been “legally punished and dealt with,” while the two males had been sent for medical examination to assess whether or not they are likely to have contracted coronavirus, though he did not explain why the Nepalese males might have been thought to be more likely to test positive than the driver.

Haji also called on Kurdistan Region residents “not to destroy the city and the region for a sum of money.”

This has been the second unsuccessful attempt to smuggle individuals into Erbil province blocked by officials this week. On Monday, the Traffic Directorate also announced the seizure at one of its checkpoints of a meat delivery vehicle that was carrying 29 individuals from parts of Iraq outside the Kurdistan Region.

According to Haji, the group of nearly 30 male and female Iraqis of Arab ethnicity was discovered during an inspection of the truck. They were planning to enter Erbil without going through medical examinations for COVID-19, he added.

In efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has blocked travel and entry between cities in the Kurdistan Region and the rest of the cities in Iraq with the exception of freight deliveries of food and other necessities.

Besides banning travel via its borders, the regional government has enacted multiple strict precautionary measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus such as temporarily closing schools, declaring extended public holidays for government employees, canceling all religious services and other public gatherings, and imposing a curfew.

The KRG of Health on Wednesday confirmed two new cases of coronavirus in Erbil province.

A health ministry statement said the newly infected are two 35-year-old men from Erbil city. Also on Tuesday, the health ministry confirmed six new cases of coronavirus in Sulaimani governorate, which brings the total to 99 confirmed cases in the Kurdistan Region, including two deaths.

The statement noted that the infected people from Sulaimani came from two families and interacted with previously infected individuals. The patients consist of three women, two children, and one man from Darbandikhan.

Over 463,000 people are confirmed to have contracted the virus worldwide, doubling the numbers reported last week, according to data compiled by WHO. Nearly 21,000 have died, as per official numbers reported by governments around the world, though the rate could be dramatically higher in some instances due to underreporting.

Editing by John J. Catherine