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

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Over 31,000 COVID-19 patients are being treated in the hospitals of the Kurdistan Region, according to data released by public health authorities, as the region recorded over 600 new cases in the past 24 hours.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Health Ministry on Friday released daily figures related to the COVID-19 pandemic across the region, where 31,210 patients are now under treatment for the disease.

The high number of patients comes, as the region has been recording over 1,000 new cases on a daily basis. The elevated rate is due mainly to the public’s failure to follow the health measures prescribed by authorities.

The regional ministry also announced 686 new cases in the past 24 hours, out of 5,968 tests that have been conducted by public health authorities. The region’s total testing for the virus since the advent of the pandemic has reached 728,586, according to the statement.

Following alarming surges in new cases of the coronavirus, the Kurdish government has mandated that face masks be worn in public. There is a fine of 20,000 Iraqi dinars for failing to comply with the new measure.

The health ministry also recorded 28 deaths over the past 24 hours, raising the total fatalities to 2,788.

Health officials say that over 53,000 people have recovered from the highly contagious disease, but it is important to note that “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 symptoms, such as significant lung damage, could be permanent.

Editing by Laurie Mylroie