Baghdad records 82 COVID-19 cases among Iraqis returning from India

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Health Ministry on Tuesday reported 82 COVID-19 cases among citizens that had recently returned from India, where cases of the highly-infectious disease have been soaring for weeks.

Health Ministry official Ruba Falah claimed in a statement that all 399 citizens who returned from India on Monday were quarantined in a Baghdad hotel. Out of the total tested for the virus, 82 were confirmed to have been infected with the original virus strain.

Falah added claimed health workers had not detected any "strange variants" among those confirmed to be infected. It is unclear if Baghdad has the capability to test for the double mutant B.1.617 coronavirus variant, which is reportedly the cause of the latest upsurge in COVID-19 infections in India.

The Iraqi government suspended travel to and from India recently but has authorized repatriation flights. This came as Iraqis stranded in India made appeals to the Baghdad government to evacuate them.  

Read More: Kurdistan to quarantine arrivals from India amid global-high COVID infections

"There will be other evacuation trips flights," Hussein Jalil, a spokesman for Iraqi Airways, said.

India, a country with a population of over 1.35 billion, has reported over 300,000 cases every day since April 21. Hospitalizations have overwhelmed the healthcare system, leading to an acute shortage of hospital beds, oxygen supplies, and medicines.

Since late April, authorities have recorded over 3,000 daily deaths due to the disease.

Editing by Khrush Najari