COVID-19: KRG announces 264 coronavirus cases, 83 recoveries in 24 hours
The ministry also stated that it had conducted 2,061 new coronavirus tests.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Health announced on Saturday 264 new cases of coronavirus, 83 recoveries, and seven deaths due to complications related to the disease over the past 24 hours.
The ministry’s daily statement said that during the same period, it had quarantined 310 more individuals, either returning from abroad, suspected of being infected with the disease, or confirmed to have it. Since the start, the Kurdistan Region authorities have facilitated the quarantine of a total of 1,851 people in 29 different locations.
The ministry also stated that it had conducted 2,061 tests in the past 24 hours.
The statement added that the total number of infections across the region had reached 9,201: 2,288 in Erbil, 6,374 in Sulaimani, 275 in Duhok, and 137 in Halabja. Out of the total, 3,294 patients have recovered and 5,595 cases remain active.
On Saturday evening, the governor of Erbil, Firsat Sofi, announced an extension to a ban on movement among Erbil and other Kurdistan Region and Iraqi provinces. The authorities also extended a partial curfew put in place recently as the number of coronavirus cases surged.
Sofi said in a press conference that “all places will be closed from 12 o'clock after midnight until five o'clock in the morning.” This eases the lockdown measure from weeks earlier when the shutdown began at 8 pm. that the decision of reducing the initial close down was 8 and was reduced to start from 12 midnight taking into consideration the people’s livelihood.
The governor of Erbil went on to say that the places that were previously decided to be closed will remain closed.
Sofi also stressed the need to adhere to preventive measures, warning that “fines will be imposed on those who are not committed to wearing masks and protective gloves.”
Editing by Khrush Najari