COVID-19: Kurdistan Region reports uptick in fatalities, over 480 cases
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Health on Thursday announced over 480 new coronavirus cases along with a new uptick in fatalities due to the disease in the past 24 hours.
The ministry said in a statement that health workers had conducted 5,322 tests over the same period, 483 of which returned positive. Of the new cases, 181 were in Erbil province, 143 in Duhok, 70 in Sulaimani, and 27 in Halabja.
The autonomous region also announced 24 deaths in the same period, raising the total to 849. This is another uptick in deaths after the ministry announced a new all-time high number of fatalities, 26, in a single day. Tuesday was also a record-setter for daily infections, with over 600 new cases.
Read More: Iraq, Kurdistan top record daily COVID-19 infections
According to official data, the number of infections since the start of the pandemic has reached 23,204, including 13,324 recoveries. The ministry has also conducted 264,359 tests for the virus.
The Kurdistan Region has recently seen a surge in coronavirus infections across its provinces, particularly in the capital, Erbil. The situation is similar across Iraq, which broke its daily cases record for a fourth consecutive day on Sunday.
According to figures from the past few days, daily infections in Erbil province have decreased to the 200s following its recent spike of over 400 cases per day. But daily fatalities have increased to over 10.
In Monday’s meeting of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Council of Ministers, the body expressed its concern regarding the high numbers in a statement which warned, “The Kurdistan Region is in a dangerous situation.”
Read More: KRG discusses economic, health situation in Kurdistan Region
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany