Iraq records over 3,800 new COVID-19 cases, warns of new wave as fall nears

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Ministry of Health and Environment on Saturday announced over 3,800 new coronavirus infections and 77 deaths due to the highly contagious disease in the past 24 hours.

The ministry said in a statement that it had conducted close to 20,000 tests in the last 24 hours, and 3,834 of them came back positive. Iraqi authorities have conducted nearly 1.57 million such tests since the virus was first detected in China in late 2019.

According to official figures, there are, so far, close to 228,000 confirmed COVID-19 infections in Iraq, including about 170,000 recoveries, nearly 6,900 deaths, and close to 52,000 active cases.

Earlier on Saturday, the ministry said that the only way to reduce the number of coronavirus infections is for citizens to deal with it seriously, stressing the need for them to adhere to health guidelines.

The Director-General of Public Health at the Health Ministry, Riyadh Abdul Amir, said the most important of preventative measures is to avoid going out unless it is essential, "wearing masks, using disinfectants, washing hands frequently, avoiding mass gatherings."

"Unfortunately," he noted, "citizens are not implementing these health regulations seriously, and the State is not able to impose the law to force it," added Abdul Amir. The official also indicated that the recent increase in cases is an indication of the virus's strength.

Abdul Amir explained that the rise in the number of infections is matched by an increase in recovery rates, as well as a decrease in death count ratio, now at three percent. He also stressed that defeating the virus can only either be done through a vaccine or by reaching herd immunity.

Highlighting potentially more significant difficulties to come, the official noted that Iraq will witness a new wave of the coronavirus in the fall and winter seasons, coinciding with seasonal flu outbreaks across the country.

Editing by Khrush Najari