Kurdistan PM orders police to focus on shielding displaced families from COVID-19
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Thursday, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani stressed to top police officials the importance of prioritizing the protection of more than one million displaced people now living in the autonomous region.
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees make up populations particularly vulnerable to outbreaks of the highly-contagious disease, in large part due to the close living conditions and shared resources in the camps and informal settlements in which most of them reside.
During a video conference with the officials, Barzani voiced his appreciation and gratitude for ongoing coordinated police efforts to impose the regionwide curfew as an urgent public health measure.
“I want you to focus on safeguarding and protecting our IDP and refugee friends more than the people of Kurdistan since they are our guests and it’s our responsibility and duty. That’s why there must be no shortcomings in our service to them,” Barzani said to Tariq Ahmed, the Chief of police for Duhok province.
Ahmed replied, “The same way we have developed plans to protect the residents of the province, we also have plans to protect our brothers and sisters in the IDP and refugee camps,” adding, “We have greeted them with open arms and we will continue serving them.”
During the course of the virtual meeting, the prime minister also thanked Sulaimani Police Chief Aso Sheikh Taha and his counterpart in Erbil, Diler Najar, for both rising to the difficult task of urging the population to abide by health instructions, and when that wasn't enough, enforcing the new rules.
With the assistance of police, the regional Ministry of Health tested large numbers of people from 11 residential areas in Erbil on Tuesday in an attempt to stop a breakout of the coronavirus that appears to have been caused by mourners breaking curfew to gather at two funerals in roughly the same area.
Read More: Kurdistan health teams use targeted virus testing as funeral outbreak spreads
Erbil health officials say the infections originating from the two funerals make up nearly all of the province's new cases.
The Kurdistan Region has so far confirmed 324 cases of the coronavirus, formally known as COVID-19. As it became clear that the virus posed a serious risk to nations around the world, the KRG began enacting several strict precautionary measures to contain it, including a region-wide curfew in place since mid-March.
Read More: COVID-19 cases rise in Kurdistan Region, while Iraq extends curfew
As it continues to spread in over 180 countries worldwide, the disease has infected nearly 1.6 million people and killed almost 95,000, according to government-reported data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The actual figures could be dramatically higher due to insufficient testing capabilities or underreporting, particularly in countries that have weak health systems.
Editing by John J. Catherine