COVID-19: in a single day, 24 deaths and 1,115 new infections of coronavirus in Iraq

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Monday, the Iraqi Ministry of Health and Environment announced 1,115 new infections and 24 deaths of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, throughout the country.

The ministry, in its daily statement, stated that 8,927 individuals had been tested in the health ministry’s laboratories in the previous 24 hours, making for a total of 311,890 tests, since the beginning of the virus outbreak in Iraq in late February.

However, in the past few days, coronavirus infections in Iraq have increased alarmingly, with high daily infections and fatalities. The figures are unprecedented in Iraq since the outbreak of the pandemic, and on Saturday, Baghdad decided to impose new measures to combat the disease.

Iran as Epicenter—Again

The upsurge follows on the re-opening on May 18 of Iraq’s borders with Iran—the original epicenter of the virus in the Middle East, because of Iran’s close ties with China, where the virus originated.

Read More: From Iran, coronavirus spreads to five regional states

Tehran was initially slow to deal with the coronavirus, particularly as there was strong opposition to closing off the major Shi’a religious shrines. But as the virus spread, striking even members of the Iranian government—including a vice-president, deputy health minister, and some two dozen members of parliament—it eventually did so.

Read More: Iran finally shuts religious shrines, amid angry protest

Once Tehran initiated the quarantine measures prescribed by public health officials, it began to bring the disease under control.

However, already a month later, in the latter part of April, Tehran began to ease its lockdown rules. Another month after that, it became apparent that a second wave of the coronavirus was hitting Iran.

The disease is now spreading to Iran’s neighbors. That includes the Kurdistan Region and Iraq more broadly—as well as Afghanistan, on Iran’s eastern border.

Indeed, like Iraq, “Afghanistan has seen a surge in coronavirus cases in recent days,” which has prompted “the government to place restrictions on gatherings of more than 10 people” and require them “to wear masks in public,” Al-Jazeera reported, today, on Monday.

Iraq’s New Measures against Coronavirus

On Saturday, Iraq announced that it was extending the country’s strict curfew until June 13 (authorities in the Kurdistan Region have said June 15.)

Iraq’s strict curfew measures ban any form of public gathering, movement of vehicles inside cities, and traveling between Iraqi provinces without exceptions.

The ministry’s statement noted that the total number of infections has risen to 13,481, including 370 deaths, while 7,539 active cases remain under medical care, with 75 in intensive care.

On Friday, the Ministry of Health and Environment said that coexistence with the coronavirus is “inevitable," but at the same time, it warned of a more severe outbreak, as the number of new cases rises to a thousand daily. It called on citizens to follow the preventive health instructions; stay away from any type of gatherings; wear masks and gloves, and not leave the house except in cases of extreme necessity.

Iraqi authorities, however, said nothing about re-imposing the border closure with Iran. As long as Iran is experiencing a second wave of the coronavirus, it remains to be seen whether such measures as Baghdad recently announced, can control the spread of the disease inside Iraq.

Editing by Laurie Mylroie