COVID-19: Kurdistan announces 151 new infections, 11 fatalities

On Thursday, the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Health announced 151 new coronavirus infections, 118 recoveries, and 11 fatalities over the previous 24 hours.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Thursday, the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Health announced 151 new coronavirus infections, 118 recoveries, and 11 fatalities over the previous 24 hours.

In its daily COVID-19 statement, the ministry reported that 138 individuals have been quarantined in the same period of time, making a total of 1,721 now in quarantine in 24 different locations in the region, the statement also added that 1,729 tests have been conducted in the same period.

According to the most recent government data released to the public, 151 of these tests came back positive, 108 in Sulaimani province, 24 in Erbil, 13 in Halabja, and 6 in Dohuk.

The health ministry statement also pointed out that 118 patients had recovered over the past day and that the total number of coronavirus infections in the autonomous region so far has reached 10,265.

At the same time, the Iraqi government’s High National Health and Safety Committee in Baghdad announced earlier on Thursday that it was lifting some of current pandemic restrictions across the country, including allowing airports to reopen on July 23.

Read More: Iraq to reduce curfew measures, reopen airports on July 23

Also on Thursday, the federal Ministry of Health and Environment reported that there were currently 28,000 actives cases of the highly-infectious disease across the nation as well as 2,000 new infections and 90 deaths in the past day.

Read More: COVID-19: Iraq’s active cases reach over 28,000, more than 2,000 new infections in single day

Those figures do not include today's numbers listed above for the Kurdistan Region, which has its own health ministry and typically announces results later in the day. As such, Kurdistan's figures are usually added to the following day's national tally.

The coronavirus has infected more than 13.6 million people worldwide and killed over 586,000 according to government-reported data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The actual figures could be dramatically higher due to insufficient testing capabilities or underreporting.

Editing by John J. Catherine