COVID-19: Iraq again records over 1,500 daily infections after calm period

Iraqi health care workers move the deceased body of a COVID-19 victim. (Photo: AFP)
Iraqi health care workers move the deceased body of a COVID-19 victim. (Photo: AFP)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq has yet again witnessed a surge in daily coronavirus infections, recording more than 1,500 cases in the past 24 hours after a period of relative calm in the country’s health situation. 

The Iraqi health ministry said in a statement that it had conducted more than 48,000 COVID-19 tests in the past 24 hours, for a total of 5,000,000 such tests since the beginning of the novel coronavirus outbreak in Iraq.

According to the release, the health authorities have recorded 1,534 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the country’s total confirmed infections figures to more than 625,000 since the start of the pandemic in early February 2020. 

The steep rise in the number of infections comes just days after Iraqi Minister of Health and Environment Hassan al-Tamimi warned that the country is facing a new and large wave of infections as a result of the public’s failure to abide by health measures.

"We warn that Iraq is on the verge of a very large wave of infections, after the practice of wearing masks has become almost non-existent in the streets of Iraq. This has greatly increased critical and severe cases from 1.5 percent to more than 2.6 percent, and this is a dangerous sign,” he said on Wednesday.

Read More: COVID-19: Iraqi health minister warns of 'very large wave' due to lack of mask-wearing

The ministry’s statement also announced that 12 patients died as the result of COVID-19 complications. 

A new wave of coronavirus infections could be costly for Iraq as the country is already grappling with a dire economic situation, exacerbated by a budget deficit and currency devaluation that have devastated citizens’ livelihoods.

Moreover, the threat of ISIS is still alive across the Iraqi provinces, where sleeper cells regularly launch attacks on civilians as well as security personnel. 

In late December 2020, Iraq’s drug regulators approved the emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine after health authorities announced that its first doses would arrive by the end of this month. 

Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly