COVID-19: Iraq records 2,095 new infections, rings 'alarm bell' as cases continue increase

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Saturday, the Iraqi Ministry of Health and Environment announced 2,095 new coronavirus infections, 64 deaths due to the disease, and 1,841 recoveries during the past 24 hours.

A ministry statement said that health workers had conducted 13,791 coronavirus tests in the past 24 hours, raising the total number of such tests to 1,014,760 since the start of the pandemic.

The statement also mentioned the total number of confirmed cases in Iraq reached 126,704, including 4,805 deaths, 32,624 active cases, and 89,275 recoveries.

As the number of infections Iraq reports daily continues to trend upwards, health officials continue to warn the public about the risks of the virus and call for adherence to health guidelines that limit transmission.

Friday marked yet another spike in the number of daily coronavirus cases.

Read More: Iraq reports highest number of daily COVID-19 infections, as virus threatens to get out of control

The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, Hazem Al-Jumaili, on Saturday said that Friday's number, which was a new all-time high for cases recorded in a day, rose an "alarm bell" among health professionals and the public.

Jumaili affirmed that "the citizen's commitment to preventive measures is the most important to reduce the number of infections" and said that the ongoing spike in cases is "the result of the citizen's failure to comply with health guidelines."

Among other factors, however, as a World Health Organization (WHO) official noted in June, includes the resumption of trade with neighboring Iran starting mid-May, shortly after which Iraq saw a spike in cases.

Since then, limited lockdown measures amid an economic downturn have not slowed the rapid jump from daily cases of near the hundreds to the lower thousands.

Related Article: Iraq tops Iran’s daily COVID-19 cases

Editing by Khrush Najari