COVID-19: Highest death toll in Kurdistan Region, as WHO and KRG launch COVID awareness campaign

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Health on Monday reported the highest daily death toll since the coronavirus pandemic began: over 25 fatalities recorded in the previous 24 hours.

Rising cases in Dohuk Province

The ministry said in a statement that it had conducted 4,699 new tests across the region, with 458 returning positive: 199 were in Dohuk province, marking a significant increase in cases there. Some 127 new cases were reported in Erbil and 91 in Sulaimani.

The ministry also said that 27 people had died of the virus over the past 24 hours—the highest coronavirus death count in one day, raising the total to 930 fatalities from the disease across the Kurdistan Region.

COVID-19 is highly contagious, and health authorities have repeatedly explained what needs to be done to control its spread: wear a face mask; practice social distancing; and regularly wash hands.

Until now, the vast bulk of coronavirus cases had occurred in Sulaimani and Erbil provinces. The appearance of so many cases in Dohuk suggests that people are not following the directions of public health authorities. Consequently, the virus has begun to spread widely there, as well.

WHO and KRG launch COVID awareness-campaign

On Sunday, the World Health Organization (WHO) in Iraq, in cooperation with the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Health, announced that it had launched a “major COVID-19 prevention and containment campaign.”

The campaign began in Sulaimani province, the initial epicenter of the coronavirus in the Kurdistan Region, due “mainly to its proximity and long borders with neighboring Iran,” a WHO statement explained.

Iran, for its part, was the original epicenter of the disease in the Middle East, because of its close ties with China, where it first emerged.

Read More: COVID-19 spikes again in Iran, with regional implications

The joint campaign by WHO and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to educate people about the coronavirus and how to protect themselves will engage “the local community through the mobilization of more than 250 local community volunteers to reach a population of over 800,000 people in 10 targets areas including IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) and refugee camps in Arbat and Kalar districts,” WHO explained.

The campaign is to last nine days and reach other areas of the Kurdistan Region, as well.

Coronavirus in Kurdistan: Avoidable Tragedies

In its statement, WHO related conversations with individuals who had caught the virus. They are not people who were elderly or ill, and they did not die from the disease. Nonetheless, they suffered grievously.

“In Mawlawi street, Sulaimani downtown a family of six members just recovered after a two week hospitalization,” the WHO statement explained.

“The hard time we’ve been through wouldn’t have happened, if we had committed to the lockdown and social distancing,” said Sabah Mousa.

“The disease is a fact—not fake like others believe,” Mousa told WHO. “It is dangerous and tough,” he warned.

“More painful stories are still out there,” WHO added, “and could have been prevented with simple prevention measures like mask-wearing and social distancing.”

“The population [has begun] to realize the seriousness of the infection,” Dr. Sami Abdul Rahman told WHO.

“It is a reality,” he continued “that can be avoided by tending to hygiene practices, social distancing, and compulsory wearing of masks—which is what WHO is promoting,” along with the KRG, through their public awareness campaign.

Editing by Laurie Mylroie