COVID-19: Iraq resumes int'l flights as it reports over 2,300 new infections
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq reopened its airport terminals for commercial flights on Thursday just as its Ministry of Health and Environment announced another 2,361 new coronavirus infections and 80 fatalities in the previous 24 hours.
COVID-19 figures
According to government-supplied data, over 100,000 people across the nation have contracted the coronavirus, 4,122 of whom had died and nearly 28,700 of them who are still considered active cases. Just under 70,000 are classified as recoveries, about 68 percent of total infections. This refers to patients who no longer carry a detectable virus in their system but this does not necessarily mean they are well or will not have long-lasting health effects.
Since July 1, Iraq has regularly been reporting over 2,000 new infections daily and has nearly doubled its death toll.
Read More: COVID-19: Iraq announces new increase in cases, crosses 2000 total deaths
Baghdad International Airport reopened
On Thursday, the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority announced the reopening of Baghdad International Airport to commercial flights after being shuttered for months to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In mid-July, Iraq’s High National Health and Safety Committee announced that commercial flights would resume on July 23 as part of the nation’s eased restrictions.
Read More: Iraq to reduce curfew measures, reopen airports on July 23
Travelers wishing to pass through Baghdad International Airport must now show they are COVID-19-free in order to be allowed to board as part of new regulations that accompany the reopening, the committee announced.
AFP reported that airports in the southern provinces of Najaf and Basra also reopened on Thursday. On Tuesday, an official from the autonomous Kurdistan Region announced that its airports, however, would remain closed until August 1.
Read More: COVID-19: Kurdistan announces 252 new infections, eases restrictions
The eased restrictions drew criticism from the Iraqi parliament’s anti-coronavirus committee, which charged on Saturday that it would significantly hinder efforts to contain the highly-contagious disease.
“The decisions of the High Committee for Health and Safety regarding easing procedures, ending the curfew, and opening malls and airports are unscientific and premature,” said committee chair Jawad al-Musawi, warning that the progress made so far to stop the virus “will be lost.”
Musawi further complained that the lifting of the restrictions “is evidence of the fact that there are no specialists in virology and epidemiology in the committee, unlike in other countries of the region and the world.”
Neighboring Iran, the original epicenter of the disease in the Middle East, began to ease its restrictive measures against the virus in April, resulting in a significant rise in infections. On Friday, the Iranian government reimposed some of its earlier restrictions.
The coronavirus has infected more than 15.4 million people worldwide and killed over 631,000 according to government-reported data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The actual figures could be dramatically higher due to insufficient testing capabilities or underreporting.
Editing by John J. Catherine