COVID-19: Iraq records 72 deaths and 3,837 new infections in 24 hours

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Ministry of Health and Environment on Wednesday announced more than 3,800 new coronavirus infections and 72 deaths resulting from the disease in the past 24 hours.

The ministry announced in its daily epidemiological status update that it had conducted 20,359 tests in that time period, making a total of 1,502,546 tests carried out since the outbreak of the virus in Iraq in February.

According to the health officials, the new numbers brought the total number of infections in Iraq to 215,784 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 6,668 deaths and nearly 52,000 active cases in Iraqi hospitals and other medical care centers.

Today's figures for infections and deaths in Iraq do not include the most recent developments in the autonomous 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 representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Iraq, Adham Ismail, announced earlier on Wednesday that the rate of new infections sharply increased since the recent Eid al-Adha holiday.

The statement was made during a press conference held with the governor of Sulaimani province, Haval Abu Bakr, and the province’s head health directorate, Sabah Hawrami. Ismail also explained, "There is still no treatment for the pandemic," so it was essential that "people's lives should undergo a change and protective mask should be part of every family's life and everyone must commit to staying away from crowded places."

The highly-contagious disease has infected over 24 million people worldwide and killed nearly 821,000 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