Iraq reports new record daily COVID-19 cases, as Sulaimani declares nine more infections
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq’s total coronavirus disease cases crossed 3,400 on Sunday, as health officials announced 144 new infections over the previous 24 hours, over 400 of which have been recorded in the Kurdistan Region.
Iraqi laboratories conducted 3,107 tests for the disease, formally known as COVID-19, a federal health ministry statement said, adding that 144 returned positive. The country has carried out close to 150,000 examinations so far.
Out of the total new cases, the ministry noted, 105 had been in Baghdad province, which is now a major hub of the disease nationally. Karbala reported 16, Wasit nine, Basra four, Muthanna three, and Sulaimani seven. Two more people succumbed to the disease, and 92 others recovered, the statement said.
It should be noted that the numbers for the Iraqi side were included in the daily Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) coronavirus update statement on Saturday. The country’s total numbers, according to the federal ministry, now stands at 3,404 COVID-19 cases, including 123 deaths, and 2,218 recoveries.
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The first daily status update from the Kurdistan Region health ministry released Sunday evening said there had been no new infections over the previous 24 hours. A brief follow-up statement seen by Kurdistan 24, however, noted that nine tests in Sulaimani province had returned positive.
The latter statement said one of the cases was an individual who repatriated from abroad, six of them had come in contact with newly infected persons in the province, with the remaining two’s source of infection still undetermined.
Eight of the new cases are Sulaimani city residents, while the other is in the Baziyan district.
KRG health workers have conducted over 60,000 coronavirus examinations, the earlier and detailed ministry statement said. As per the latest numbers available on the KRG website, there has now been 413 COVID-19 infections, including five deaths, with 25 still hospitalized.
The regional health ministry still considers the pandemic a significant public health threat, despite the KRG relaxing strict measures to contain the disease, and has repeatedly reiterated its calls on the public to adhere to social distancing rules to limit the possibility of transmission.
However, the highly contagious disease has witnessed an uptick in the Kurdistan Region, most notably in Sulaimani province, where authorities have reported close to 20 cases in recent days. Still, the number of active cases remains low, mainly due to immediate and strict measures the KRG took before COVID-19 spread to the autonomous region and Iraq in February.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has praised the KRG’s anti-coronavirus efforts on multiple occasions.
Read More: WHO congratulates Kurdistan Region on coronavirus response
On Sunday, WHO representative to Iraq, Adham Ismail, “praised the successful progress made by Najaf and [the] KRG to control” the disease during an interview with Iraqi state media, the organization’s social media page said.
He also “commended the remarkable decrease in the number of infections in many governorates as a result of strict preventive measures.”
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany