COVID-19: Kurdistan Region total fatalities surpass 3,000 deaths

The Kurdistan Region’s total fatalities from the coronavirus topped 3,000, since early March, when the disease first appeared in the region, according to Kurdish health authorities.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s total fatalities from the coronavirus topped 3,000, since early March, when the disease first appeared in the region, according to Kurdish health authorities.

In their daily coronavirus update, officials from the regional health ministry announced 488 new infections over the previous 24 hours out of more than 5,574 tests completed in that period.

The Kurdistan Region has, thus, seen 93,921 cases of COVID-19.

Health authorities also announced 21 new deaths in the same period, bringing the number of fatalities to some 3,000.

Officials have attributed a recent spike in the number of patients—at times over 1,000 new cases a day—primarily to the public’s failure to follow mandated health measures to stem the spread of the disease.

Health officials announced this week that over 31,000 COVID-19 patients are currently being treated in hospitals and clinics throughout the Kurdistan Region.

Read MoreCOVID-19: Kurdistan Region has over 31,000 patients under treatment

The health ministry has said that over 57,000 people have recovered from the coronavirus, but it is important to note that a “recovery” only indicates that a patient is no longer being actively treated by health professionals—not that they have fully recovered from the disease.

The coronavirus has infected more than 57 million people worldwide and killed almost 1.4 million, according to Johns Hopkins University’s database. The actual figures could be dramatically higher due to insufficient testing capabilities or underreporting. 

Editing by Laurie Mylroie