COVID-19: KRG announces 14 deaths and 254 new infections in a day

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Sunday, the Kurdistan Region's Ministry of Health announced 14 deaths due to coronavirus-related complications and 254 new infections over the past 24 hours.

A ministry statement noted that health workers had conducted 2,298 tests over the same period.

The test results of 254 persons came back positive: 85 in Erbil province, 141 in Sulaimani, 10 in Duhok, and 18 in Halabja province, the statement added. There were also reportedly 84 recoveries.

Since the outbreak of the disease in the Kurdistan Region, 9,555 people have caught the coronavirus, of which 3,378 have recovered, 326 have died, and 5,751 cases remain active, according to official data.

Earlier on Sunday, the Erbil municipality announced the reopening of public parks to visitors, provided that they adhere to preventive measures. These sites were first closed in March when the authorities first took steps to limit the spread of the disease.

On Sunday, Shamal Abdul Rahman, the director-general of the region's customs, said that "the border crossings in the Kurdistan Region are seeing a revival in trade movements after a slowdown that lasted for more than three months due to the coronavirus."

"The commercial movement in the border crossings had decreased to 30 percent due to measures against the coronavirus," Abdul Rahman added. He noted that trade had recovered by 20 percent, and border authorities expect a continued rise "in the coming days."

The Kurdistan Region has six main border crossings with Turkey and Iran, all of which were closed for at least two months as part of measures to curb the spread of the virus. The reopening of some crossings in May, however, coincided with a spike in the number of coronavirus cases in the autonomous region days later, especially in Sulaimai province.

Editing by Khrush Najari