Health

Kurdistan reports 147 new COVID-19 cases, as Iraq warns of 'more severe' Omicron wave

Since its first confirmed case of the coronavirus in early 2020, the Kurdistan Region has reported 369,939 total infections and 7,060 deaths.

Kurdistan 24 2021/12/20 20:06

Kurdistan

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region Health Ministry reported on Monday that 147 more people in the region have tested positive for COVID-19. Healthcare workers have also recorded six deaths due to the highly contagious disease.

According to official data, there have now been a total of 379,655 cases of COVID-19 across the Kurdistan Region, including 7,060 deaths. And 369,939 people have reportedly recovered from the infection.

Over the past 24 hours, health officials reported 364 COVID-19 cases across Iraq, as well as eleven deaths tied to the disease, according to the Federal Ministry of Health.

Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region, has now recorded 2,090,844 infections, including 24,074 deaths, and 2,060,413 recoveries.

So far, Iraq has not recorded any infection with the Omicron strand, which was first detected in South Africa and is a variant of concern as classified by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The Iraqi Health Ministry has warned that Omicron could enter the country and lead to a new COVID-19 wave that would be "more severe" than previous ones and impede ongoing efforts to stop the spread of the virus.

The ministry again strongly urged the public to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and indicated that most studies have shown that the jabs are still effective against Omicron.