Germany delivers third batch of coronavirus protection gear to Kurdistan Region

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Thursday, the German government delivered its third shipment of medical protection supplies over the past week to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to assist in anti-coronavirus efforts throughout the autonomous region of Iraq.

“So far, Germany has provided us with three batches of aid through the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) to help fight the spread of coronavirus in Kurdistan Region,” said Hoshang Mohammed, Director-General of Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (JCC), at a press conference in the regional capital of Erbil.

The JCC is a crisis response center that the KRG established to coordinate the KRG's response to humanitarian crises between relevant government agencies. Its mandate is to manage ministries, institutions, and organizations so that they are able to work effectively when dealing with both natural and man-made disasters.

Last week Germany delivered the first shipment, also to the JCC.

Read More: Germany provides COVID-19 personal protection gear to Kurdistan Region

Mohammed extended his thanks and appreciation to the THW for being one of the first agencies to provide medical supplies to the region’s first line of defence that includes various kinds of personal protection gear, sanitation equipment, and sterilizers for medical teams, security forces, border officials, and displaced persons living in camps or makeshift settlements.    

He stressed how helpful the equipment will be to mitigate the pandemic's effects at 38 displacement camps in the Kurdistan Region which host over 65,000 families of both internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees. Many had been working to support themselves, but due to the COVID-19 lockdown, they have been forced to become dependent on humanitarian assistance. 

“JCC offices in the Kurdistan Region’s provinces, in coordination with UN agencies and Iraq’s Ministry of Migration and Displacement, were able to provide them with basic needs, sanitation equipment, and medical supplies for protection against the COVID-19,” added Mohammed.

Srwa Rasoul, the JCC's Director of Resource Mobilization, told Kurdistan 24, “The third shipment of supplies included 150,000 medical masks, 70,000 protection gloves, 5,000 goggles, and 500 face shields.”

She also explained that the medical protection shipment will be distributed to those on the “first line of defence” in the fight against the spread of COVID-19. These, she explained, are “the security personnel implementing the regionwide curfew, the medical staff in the treatment centers and quarantine zones, airport staff, Kurdistan Region border check-point staff, and those at the camps.”

“The assistance will be distributed through JCC offices in all four provinces in Kurdistan Region including the two administrative units as well,” Rasoul concluded.

Editing by John J. Catherine