COVID-19: Kurdistan Region records 61 cases as two dead due to virus
The Kurdistan Region health ministry on Thursday announced 61 new COVID-19 cases with two related deaths during the last 24 hours.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region health ministry on Thursday recorded 61 new COVID-19 cases with two related deaths during the last 24 hours.
The statement from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Health Ministry explained that out of 3,559 coronavirus tests conducted across the region, 61 tests returned positive.
There were 1,419 tests carried out in Erbil province, 1,478 in Sulaimani, 601 in Duhok, Raparin conducted 48 tests, and Garmiyan administration had four, in the past 24 hours.
Out of the 61 new confirmed cases in the Kurdistan Region, Sulaimani province recorded the highest with 57 cases, including Raparin and Garmiyan administrations’ figures that both had nine positive cases, and Erbil province reported four cases.
The KRG health ministry also reported two new COVID-19-related deaths in the past 24 hours.
On Wednesday, Haval Abubakir, the governor of Sulaimani province, in which the highest COVID-19 cases are recorded so far, warned that if this situation continues – daily increase in the numbers of cases without adherence to health measures – “citizens have to turn their houses into hospitals.”
“We only have 250 beds and 60 ventilators in the hospitals,” Governer Abubakir told Kurdistan 24, as he warned of the increasing numbers of cases in his province.
Since the first recorded cases of coronavirus in the region, the KRG Health Ministry has conducted 82,926 COVID-19 tests across its four provinces.
Erbil’s General Health Director Dlovan Mohammad, on the conditions of COVID-19 patients in Erbil province, told Kurdistan 24 that “four patients are in an unstable condition while one is in a very critical situation and is admitted to intensive care unit.”
During a press conference on Tuesday, KRG Interior Minister Rebar Ahmed said, “If we do not comply with health regulations, we will reach a dangerous phase and new infections, including deaths, will be very high,” adding that the curfew will remain in place and the inter-provincial travel ban will continue.
He added that local provincial governments will be given the authority to implement certain relaxations of current health regulations amid a new temporary region-wide curfew following a spike in new coronavirus cases.
As of Wednesday, 910 cases have been confirmed, including 16 deaths, and 441 recoveries. According to Wednesday’s statement, there are now 453 active cases remaining in hospitals.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany