Iraq's COVID-19 fatalities climb by 4; Sulaimani considers steps after new cases

Iraqi authorities on Saturday announced 67 new coronavirus cases and four deaths resulting from the disease over the previous 24 hours. Meanwhile, health officials from the autonomous Kurdistan Region reported seven new infections and no deaths over the same period.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi authorities on Saturday announced 67 new coronavirus cases and four deaths resulting from the disease over the previous 24 hours. Meanwhile, health officials from the autonomous Kurdistan Region reported seven new infections and no deaths over the same period.

According to a federal health ministry statement, 58 of the new cases occurred in densely-populated Baghdad province while only one was confirmed in the southern province of Basra, a center of previous outbreaks in the country.

One case was recorded in each of the provinces of Kirkuk, Nineveh, and Maysan. Dhi Qar, also in the south, reported just five. The statement noted that "specialized laboratories" had conducted close to 147,000 coronavirus tests since the disease first spread to the country, including 3,100 on Saturday.

Iraq has now recorded a total of 3,260 cases of the highly-contagious disease, the ministry said, with 2,126 individuals now recovered and 121 others having passed away.

The authorities in the Kurdistan Region announced that all seven of its new infections were in Sulaimani province. After multiple days in a row of reporting no new cases in the province, they have begun again to emerge amid relaxed containment measures.

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A regional health ministry statement said that the new cases were detected after conducting 838 tests across the region, 248 of which were in Sulaimani. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has carried out over 59,000 examinations for the disease, the statement said.

The total number of confirmed cases in the Kurdistan Region is now at 404, including five deaths and 379 recoveries, the ministry said. It also reiterated its call for citizens to abide by health measures, most notable among them wearing protective masks and gloves as well as avoiding crowded spaces.

The Sulaimani provincial government’s anti-coronavirus committee is set to meet on Sunday to decide on what action to take as part of efforts to curb new outbreaks, Governor Haval Abubakir told Kurdistan 24 on Saturday.

Abubakir affirmed that officials are considering imposing strict measures, though likely not going so far as to bring back the previous province-wide curfew.

Editing by John J. Catherine