COVID-19: Over 3,400 new cases in Iraq as WHO warns world that lifting restrictions is 'recipe for disaster'
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi government in Baghdad announced 3,404 new coronavirus infections and 81 deaths on Tuesday in its daily pandemic briefing.
The Iraqi Ministry of Health and Environment said in a statement that it had completed 18,427 tests for the disease within the previous 24 hours, making for a total of 1,624,331 carried out since the first case was confirmed in the Middle Eastern nation in February.
According to the latest health figures, the number of infections in Iraq reached 238,338 cases in total, 7,123 of them fatal.
Today's figures 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.
Also on Tuesday, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Ghebreyesus called on governments of the world to continue isolation restrictions imposed to stop outbreaks, adding that lifting such rules without controlling the virus would have serious consequences.
“We want to see children go back to school and people return to the workplace, but we want to see this done safely,” he said, adding, “No country can pretend that the epidemic is over. The truth is that this virus spreads easily. Lifting restrictions without control is a recipe for disaster.”
He continued, referencing “explosive outbreaks” that have been linked to gatherings of people around the world.
On Sunday, thousands of Shia Muslims from multiple provinces across Iraq gathered to commemorate the annual religious observance of Ashura in the city of Karbala. Many attending could be seen wearing masks that were handed out for free, but in precisely the kind of behaviour that health officials around the world have consistently and emphatically warned against, large numbers of the faithful crowded in very close proximity for hours on end.
Read More: PHOTOS: Iraq's Shia mark Ashura amid COVID-19
In fear of the further spread of the virus on Monday, Turkey announced that it had extended the suspension of flights to and from Iraq for an additional month.
Read More: Turkey extends flight suspension with Iraq, as Iraq COVID-19 deaths top 7,000
The highly-contagious disease has infected over 25.5 million people worldwide and killed more than 852,000 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