Politics

COVID-19: Iraq confirms 3,441 new cases, 57 deaths in a single day

Health officials in Baghdad announced 3,441 new daily cases of the coronavirus and 57 fatalities on Wednesday, just over a week after Iraq surpassed Egypt to became the Arab-majority nation with the overall highest rates of death resulting from the highly-contagious disease.

Mustafa Shilani 2020/08/12 17:33

middle east Iraq COVID-19 Baghdad Ashura Coronavirus

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Health officials in Baghdad announced 3,441 new daily cases of the coronavirus and 57 fatalities on Wednesday, just over a week after Iraq surpassed Egypt to became the Arab-majority nation with the overall highest rates of death resulting from the highly-contagious disease.

The Ministry of Health and Environment said in its daily COVID-19 statement that it had carried out 19,933 tests in the last 24 hours, making a total of 1,203,883 tests conducted in Iraq since the start of the outbreak there in February.

The number of total infections in Iraq so far is 160,436 and 5,588 patients have died. The statement also reported that 2,439 patients who had previously contracted the virus had recovered.

The current spike in cases followed the reopening in mid-May of Iraq’s borders with Iran, the original epicentre of the disease in the Middle East.

Today's federal figures do not include the most recent developments in the Kurdistan Region, which has its own health ministry and typically announces results later in the day. As such, Kurdistan's figures are usually added to the following day's national tally.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Health reported another 566 new coronavirus cases and 16 fatalities on Wednesday. When added to Baghdad's new infections for the day, the total surpasses 4,000.

Earlier on Wednesday, a representative for organizers of the yearly Ashura pilgrimage in which tens of thousands of Shia Muslims walk to the city of Karbala to honor Imam Hussein, said that rules were being put into place to limit the further spread of the pandemic.

"The decisions included prevention of gatherings, maintaining social distancing during the ritual ceremonies, and obliging procession officials to impose the implementation of health regulations in order to preserve public safety and avoid the danger of the coronavirus," read a statement.

In March, hundreds of Iraqis violated curfews to take part in another annual religious ceremony in the Kadhimiya district of Baghdad that houses one of the holiest shrines in Shia Islam.

Large crowds of pedestrians gathered alongside heavy traffic that included cars, taxis, buses, and motorcycles. This and other such religious gatherings have been blamed for early coronavirus outbreaks in both Iraq and neighboring Iran.

Editing by John J. Catherine