Politics

Kurdistan Region confirms 4 new cases of COVID-19; Iraq records 85

On Tuesday, the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Health announced four new cases of coronavirus in the region during the past 24 hours as Iraq announced 85 total new cases, numbers which included the Kurdistan Region, plus four new deaths.

Mustafa Shilani 2020/05/05 18:24

kurdistan Kurdistan Erbil Iraq COVID-19 Coronavirus Health

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Tuesday, the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Health announced four new cases of coronavirus in the region during the past 24 hours as Iraq announced 85 total new cases, numbers which included the Kurdistan Region, plus four new deaths.

The ministry said in a statement that, since the beginning of the pandemic, it has quarantined 9,741 individuals returning from abroad in 33 different locations across the region. It added that 11 individuals have been put into quarantine over the past 24 hours after coming in contact with others known to have been infected. Of those who have started the 14-day process, 1,201 remain in quarantine while the rest have returned to their homes.

The new infections bring the total confirmed cases of coronavirus in the autonomous region to 391, including five fatalities, and the recovery of 249 individuals.

In Baghdad, Iraq’s federal Ministry of Health and Environment said that the total number of COVID-19 people who have so far been infected had reached 2,431. Among these, 102 have died, 1,571 have recoveries, and 758 remain "active" and are receiving medical treatment.

On Friday, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced the latest in a series of extensions to its regionwide curfew.

The regional Interior Ministry first imposed the curfew on March 13, restricting the movement of vehicles, shutting down schools and universities, and suspending work in many government institutions.

On April 28, the representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Iraq noted the success of those steps, saying, “I want to congratulate the Kurdistan Region on their achievement in fighting the coronavirus," he said. "The rate of COVID-19 infections and fatalities in the region is very low compared to other Iraqi governorates.”

The coronavirus has infected over 3.65 million people worldwide and killed more than 256,000, 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