COVID-19: Iraqi health official stresses prevention measures; over 3,000 new cases

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi Ministry of Health and Environment on Monday reported 3,184 new infections with coronavirus and 53 deaths due to the virus over the past 24 hours.

The health ministry in a statement said that it had conducted 17,120 tests during the same period, making for a total of 3,019,706 tests since the beginning of the outbreak in Iraq.

According to official data, the total number of infections in Iraq has now reached 501,733, including 432,233 recoveries and 11,380 deaths.

The director of public health at the ministry, Riyadh Abdul Amir, warned in a statement that coronavirus infections would surge over the winter as weather conditions allow the virus to survive longer.

He also noted that “there is no sign” that a vaccine would be available by the end of the year.

“There are ten vaccines in their final trial stages,” and work is ongoing “to choose the most effective one,” Abdul Amir added. “The ministry expects that [a vaccine] will be produced in the first quarter of 2021.”

As the wait for an effective, widely available vaccine continues, the health official reiterated calls on citizens to follow preventative measures to ward off potential coronavirus infections, including wearing masks and social distancing.

Coronavirus fatalities “have exceeded 11,000 due to citizens ’lack of commitment to measures,” he said.

He also asserted that the Iraqi government would likely reimpose curfews if the number of daily cases spike.

Iraq continues to record thousands of new infections every day, but the spread appears to have slowed slightly from September and early October when Baghdad reported record cases close to 5,000.

“If the numbers remain as they are at present,” Abdul Amir claimed, “it indicates that [the public] has acquired immunity.”

Editing by Khrush Najari