Kurdistan Region’s Higher Education Ministry sets date for resumption of university study, as COVID-19 cases decline

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Monday, the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Higher Education announced plans to resume university studies in the middle of-May, as the number of coronavirus cases continues to decrease in the region.

"In light of the progress in health conditions in the Kurdistan Region, and based on reports we have received from the Ministry of Health, we are planning to resume normal working hours for universities after May 16, assuming that no further health threats appear," said Aram Mohammed, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Minister of Higher Education, in a statement posted on the KRG website.

"The resumption of university studies will be done gradually, and the ministry is preparing to hold a meeting as soon as possible to decide on the process," he added.

The Kurdistan Region, early on, enacted several precautionary measures to curb the spread of the virus, and those measures are widely seen as having been effective.

Earlier this week, for example, the representative of the World Health Organization in Iraq, Dr. Adham Ismail, applauded the KRG’s response to the pandemic, comparing it favorably with how Baghdad has dealt with it.

READ MORE: WHO congratulates Kurdistan Region on coronavirus response

Measures taken by the KRG included suspending classes in schools and universities in early March. Then, in mid-March, the KRG imposed a region-wide curfew, closed down markets, and forbad public gatherings, including communal religious worship.

On May 1, the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Higher Education initiated online study in all universities in the region to ensure that the academic year was not wasted and students could continue their education.

Over the past two weeks, the number of COVID-19 infections has declined significantly in the Kurdistan Region, due to those strict measures. Indeed, on Monday, the KRG’s Health Ministry statement announced that no new cases of coronavirus had been recorded in the region.

The Health Ministry’s statement explained that over the past 24 hours, it had conducted 1,731 tests of suspected cases of coronavirus, and all the results were negative.

The ministry’s statement noted that 9,730 individuals had been placed in quarantine since the coronavirus crisis began. Now only 1,279 people are still in a quarantine that lasts for 14-days to ensure that they are free of the virus.

The statement also explained that the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Kurdistan Region was 387, including 5 deaths. There were 343 cases in which people recovered, and only 39 individuals are now left in treatment centers.

On Monday, the Iraqi Ministry of Health and Environment announced 50 new cases of COVID-19 and one death from the virus in the last 24 hours, bringing Iraq’s total cases up to 2,346, including 98 deaths, with 1,544 recoveries.

The highly contagious disease first appeared in China in late 2019. As it continues to spread worldwide, it has infected nearly 3.6 million people and killed over 250,000.

Editing by Laurie Mylroie