KRG repatriates 270 citizens from Germany, UK amid COVID-19 crisis

Kurdistan Region’s Department of Foreign Relations announced on Friday evening the evacuation of 270 of its nationals to the region who were trapped in Europe due to COVID-19 airport lockdowns.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Department of Foreign Relations (DFR) on Friday announced the return of 270 citizens stranded in Germany and the UK, amid COVID-19 airport lockdowns.

"Under the directives of the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Masrour Barzani, a number of Kurdish citizens stranded abroad due to the suspension of air traffic have safely returned home to the Kurdistan Region," read a DFR statement.

It explained that 107 of the arrivals were from Germany and 163 from Britain. "In observance of the preventive measures implemented in the Kurdistan Region, the citizens will undergo a 14-day quarantine to safeguard themselves and the public’s health."

Safeen Dizayee, Head of DFR extended his thanks to the Iraqi Embassy and Kurdistan Region’s representative offices in both Germany and Britain and Erbil International Airport staff for their effective role in facilitating the return of the group of citizens to the Kurdistan Region.

"The process of repatriating citizens came in coordination between the Department of Foreign Relations (DFR) Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the Foreign Ministry of the Iraqi federal government, the KRG representatives in Baghdad and Iraqi Airways."

On March 20th, another 325 students were evacuated from Cyprus to the Kurdistan Region, arriving at Erbil International Airport via an exceptional flight.

On April 18th, the Iraqi Civil Aviation Agency announced that the suspension of commercial flights to and from all Iraqi airports, including the Kurdistan Region, would continue until April 24th to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The Civil Aviation Agency’s decision of flight suspension was made on March 17 and was planned to last for a week until March 24 as the government began to take preventive measures to counter the spread of the novel coronavirus, officially referred to as COVID-19. However, it was extended several times afterward.

According to the latest figures from the KRG’s health ministry, there have been 337 confirmed cases since the coronavirus outbreak in the Kurdistan Region, including 238 recoveries, and four deaths.

The highly-contagious disease has infected over 2.2 million people worldwide and killed close to 156,000, according to the latest government-reported data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The actual figures could be dramatically higher due to insufficient testing capabilities or underreporting.

Editing by Kosar Nawzad