COVID-19: Kurdistan Region announces over 460 new cases; mask-wearing should be part of life, WHO in Iraq says

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Health announced over 460 new daily infections as the World Health Organization (WHO) in Iraq advised that mask-wearing should be part of peoples’ lives because there has not been any cure for the disease yet.

The ministry said in a statement that it had conducted 4,199 new tests across the region, with 463 returning positive: 264 in Erbil, 61 in Sulaimani, 90 in Duhok province, and 16 cases in Halabja.

The statement pointed out that there were also 14 more fatalities as a result of the disease, raising the total death tally to 962.

According to official data, the total number of infections since the coronavirus outbreak in the region reached just over 26,000, including about 15,840 recoveries, and 962 deaths. Of the total, nearly 9,500 cases remain active.

‘Mask-wearing should be part of people’s lives,’ WHO advises

In a press conference held in the Kurdistan Region’s Sulaimani province, WHO representative in Iraq Adham Ismail said since there has been no cure or vaccine against the virus, mask-wearing should be part of people’s lives.

Ismail also thanked the Sulaimani province’s health care workers for their efforts in the fight against the virus in their province that witnessed surges lately as he described the increase in death rates as “reasonable and natural” compared to other parts of the world.

Earlier in the week, the WHO, in cooperation with the KRG Health Ministry, launched an awareness-raising campaign in the province among the residents to take precautionary measures against the virus.  

The joint campaign by WHO and the KRG to educate people about the coronavirus and how to protect themselves will engage “the local community through the mobilization of more than 250 local community volunteers to reach a population of over 800,000 people in 10 target areas including IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) and refugee camps in Arbat and Kalar districts,” WHO explained.

Read More: COVID-19: Highest death toll in Kurdistan Region, as WHO and KRG launch COVID awareness campaign

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany