Kurdistan brings home 142 students stranded in Cyprus by coronavirus pandemic
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced on Thursday the return of 142 students to the autonomous Kurdistan Region after being stranded in Cyprus in recent months since the coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe, causing governments to enact various travel restrictions in efforts to stem the spread of the highly-contagious disease to their populations.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced on Thursday the return of 142 students to the autonomous Kurdistan Region after being stranded in Cyprus in recent months since the coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe, causing governments to enact various travel restrictions in efforts to stem the spread of the highly-contagious disease to their populations.
The repatriation was carried out by the KRG Department of Foreign Relations (DFR) in coordination with the Foreign Ministry of Iraq, according to a DFR statement.
The return of the students comes at a time that all the commercial flights remain grounded in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, a measure to contain outbreaks of the pandemic, officially known as COVID-19.
They arrived at Erbil International Airport and will go through all necessary health measures, including a mandated 14-day quarantine, the statement added.
According to the latest data published by health officials, there are 907 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Cyprus, including 17 deaths and 481 people who have recovered.
DFR head Safeen Dizayee extended his appreciation to all those who were involved in helping the students to return home to the Kurdistan Region at a time that all commercial flights had been halted.
Over the past two months, the KRG and the Foreign Ministry of Iraq have returned over one thousand citizens from various countries around the world, the most recent being 228 individuals, mostly students, who had been stranded in Ukraine and Jordan.
Read More: KRG repatriates another 228 citizens from Ukraine, Jordan amid COVID-19 crisis
The federal Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority's decision to suspend all international passenger flights was first made on March 17 and was planned to last for a week as the government began to take preventive measures to counter the spread of the coronavirus. However, it was extended several times afterward, the latest one expected to end on May 22.
The coronavirus has infected over 4.4 million people worldwide and killed more than 302,000, 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 John J. Catherine
