COVID-19: Kurdistan's new cases jump to 900; Sulaimani tightens measures

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Health announced an increase of 900 new coronavirus cases confirmed over the previous 24 hours as Sulaimani province tightened precautionary measures aimed at curbing the further spread of the highly contagious disease.

The ministry said in a statement that health workers had completed 5,609 coronavirus tests in the past day, making for a total of 536,527 such tests carried out since the beginning of the outbreak in the region in early March.

According to official figures, 57,365 patients in the Kurdistan Region have contracted the virus so far.

On Monday, fatalities in the autonomous federal region of Iraq topped 2,000.

Read More: COVID-19: KRG allocates about 2.5 million USD to combat pandemic as death toll tops 2000

Regional Health Minister Saman Barzinjy announced on Monday that the KRG had earmarked an additional of three billion Iraqi dinars ($2.5 million) to combat the coronavirus during the fall and winter seasons.

Sulaimani province tightens measures

Also on Tuesday, local officials in Sulamiani province tightened anti-coronavirus health restrictions in the province in an attempt to combat steadily rising infection numbers over the past several weeks.

The measures, according to a statement from the committee, include mandatory mask-wearing inside governmental offices and a ban on religious ceremonies and gatherings, including funerals.

Moreover, the committee mandated that the public should “stick to all the precautionary measures” put in place to the stem the spread of the virus.

Sulaimani province, the initial epicenter of the pandemic in the Kurdistan Region, so far has recorded 18,499 cases. It also has the highest fatalities of any of the region’s four provinces, now numbering at 1,033.

Editing by John J. Catherine