COVID-19: Iraq records over 1,200 new cases, 58 deaths in a day

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Sunday, the Iraqi Ministry of Health and Environment announced it had recorded over 1,200 new coronavirus cases and 58 deaths due to complications related to the disease across the country in the past 24 hours.

A ministry statement said that 9,920 individuals were tested for the new disease, with 1,259 returning positive. The government says that health workers have conducted a total of 369,870 examinations across laboratories in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

Related Article: Iraq’s COVID-19 death toll mounts as new infections continue to soar

Over the past week, Iraq has witnessed a significant increase in coronavirus infections, often exceeding 1,000 cases daily. The total number has now reportedly reached 20,209, including 607 deaths. The ministry said that 8,121 patients have recovered, while 11,181 cases remain active, with 128 of them in intensive care.

On Sunday, federal Health Minister Hassan al-Shammari allocated quarantine zones for health personals infected with the new coronavirus after an increasing number of new infections among medical staff.

"Each health facility will have a testing laboratory specifically for the health staff working in that facility, and a specific quarantine zone will be provided for them," Shammari said.

The highly-contagious disease has infected over 7.9 million people worldwide and killed nearly 433,000 according to government-reported data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The actual figures could be dramatically higher due to insufficient testing capabilities or underreporting.

Editing by Khrush Najari