COVID-19: Kurdistan reports all-time highs for daily deaths and infections

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s health ministry on Saturday reported a new high in the number of deaths due to coronavirus-related complications as well as new daily infections.

A ministry statement detailed that among close to 2,000 coronavirus tests given in a 24-hour period, roughly 350 returned positive, breaking the previous record number of daily infections and raising the total in the autonomous region to over 5,500.

The statement noted that 18 more patients had passed away due to the highly-contagious disease and added that, since the beginning of the outbreak, 180 people in the Kurdistan Region had succumbed to the virus.

When the number of cases witnessed a notable uptick and crossed into the lower hundreds of daily infections in late May, the gap between the number of active cases and recovered patients has only grown larger.

Fatalities due to the disease have also grown substantially, with regional health officials warning it is likely they will continue to climb.

“In the coming days, the number of deaths is going to increase, if you do not protect yourselves,” warned Abdullah Ahmed, deputy head of the Sulaimani health directorate, on Thursday. He also called on the public to be cautious when they go outside and interact with others.

“Gloves and masks are easier to come by than blood plasma,” he pleaded.

Since late May, the number of cases has risen dramatically throughout Iraq, as the nation reopened its domestic economy as well as some border crossings with neighboring Iran—from where the infection first spread into Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

Read More: WHO: 'Breach' of health regulations, trade with Iran behind new COVID-19 spike in Iraq, Kurdistan

Earlier on Friday, the federal government in Baghdad announced over 2000 new infections and about 100 fatalities.

Read More: COVID-19: Iraq continues steady increase in new infections, deaths

The coronavirus has infected more than 9.98 million people worldwide and killed nearly 500,000 according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The actual figures could be dramatically higher due to insufficient testing capabilities and underreporting.

Editing by John J. Catherine