Iraq reports 153 new COVID-19 cases as rise in infections continues; 10 in Kurdistan

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi health authorities on Thursday reported 153 new coronavirus infections across the country in the previous 24 hours. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said a few hours later that they had confirmed ten over the same period.

The Iraqi numbers, as per the federal health ministry, indicated that 103 new cases had been confirmed in Baghdad province alone, with fifteen others in Basra, nine in Diyala, one in each of Maysan and Wasit, and three in Najaf and Sulaimani.

The new positive confirmations came back from 6,151 tests given over the past 24 hours, the ministry said in its statement. Total national examinations now stand at around 170,000. Over the 24 hour period, 45 people have recovered from the disease.

The health ministry said that the total number of infections since the disease first spread to Iraq is 3,877, including 2,483 recoveries and 140 deaths.

The Kurdistan Region's health ministry in its statement on the latest coronavirus updates in the region confirmed health workers had conducted 1,309 tests, ten of which came back as positive. The apparent discrepancy—the federal authorities reporting eleven and KRG ten—is due to each ministry reporting its daily numbers at different times.

Five of the new infections, the regional ministry said, had been in Erbil province, and the others were in Sulaimani.

The KRG has conducted close to 65,000 tests for the disease, formally known as COVID-19, the statement added. There have now reportedly been 452 infections in the Kurdistan Region, including five deaths and 385 recoveries.

The number of confirmed active cases have now risen to 62, after witnessing a sharp drop in late April. This comes amid relaxed precautionary measures that the KRG imposed for several weeks to curb the spread of the disease.

On Monday, the KRG Ministry of Interior announced that a complete lockdown would be enforced during Ramadan’s Eid al-Fitr celebrations to mitigate the potential spread of COVID-19.

Read More: Kurdistan Region announces complete lockdown during Eid al-Fitr celebrations

Eid al-Fitr is expected to be observed on May 24, depending on the moon sighting that confirms the end of the Islamic month of Ramadan. The Islamic lunar calendar depends on moon cycles that are either 29 or 30 days.

In recent years, Eid holidays have led to an influx of visitors to the Kurdistan Region from the rest of Iraq and neighboring Iran who come to enjoy its cities or scenic countryside.

Such holidays have become a major part of the region’s tourism economy, now already in the midst of a crisis as a result of budget disputes with the federal government and the far-reaching effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Iraqi Civil Aviation Agency extended on Thursday its commercial flight restrictions in place since mid-March. Baghdad has also ordered a nationwide week-long curfew for Eid as an added measure to stem the alarming spread of the disease.

Editing by John J. Catherine