COVID-19: Kurdistan Region requests international vaccine donations amid spike in cases

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Wednesday called on the international community to assist Erbil by providing it with coronavirus vaccines to innoculate its people as sustained high infection numbers soar.

"The region’s health situation, the significant increase in coronavirus cases, the escalating death rate caused by the epidemic, and the measures to contain the outbreak of the pandemic in the Kurdistan Region," were all important factors, said Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani at a weekly cabinet session on Wednesday, as explained in a government statement.

Another crucial reason, according to KRG spokesperson Jutyar Adil, results from the Kurdistan Region's status as an autonomous federal region of Iraq.

"Unfortunately, we cannot deal directly with companies producing vaccines to secure them for our citizens, since this process must go through the Iraqi government," he explained.

While chairing the meeting of his cabinet, Barzani commended the efforts of the regional health ministry, doctors, and other health experts in confronting the present wave of the pandemic, calling on "the international community to assist the Kurdistan Region in providing vaccines to its citizens." 

Following the session, KRG health officials announced 3,468 new coronavirus infections during the previous 24 hours, bringing the total number to 224,283, including 4,740 deaths.

"Most of the people in the region did not adhere to recommended preventive health measures until we reached this difficult stage," he said, adding his voice to the choir of public officials pleading with the general population to observe practices such as masking and social distancing that have been shown to help curb the spread of the disease.

He added that tourists who visit the Kurdistan Region from other parts of Iraq would be assessed upon arrival, for which the KRG is forming "teams to conduct random checks for tourist groups at entry points to make sure that they are not carrying the virus."

On Tuesday, the Supreme Committee for Combating the coronavirus in the Kurdistan Region issued a set of measures and decisions after the spread of the highly-contagious Delta variant in the region, one of which stated, "No tourist is allowed to enter the Kurdistan Region without having been vaccinated or tested within 48 hours."

This decisions come one week after more than 90 thousand tourists, mostly from central and southern Iraqi provinces, visited the Kurdistan Region for the Eid al-Adha holiday.

Read More: Over 90,000 tourists flock to Kurdistan Region capital for Eid

The Kurdistan Region’s four provinces regularly host thousands of tourists from other parts of Iraq as they escape from the scorching summer heat to enjoy mountainous landscapes and improved safety.

Editing by John J. Catherine