Medical staff checking passengers arriving from Iran in the airport in Najaf, Iraq, over coronavirus, February 21, 2020. Photo: AFP
BAGHDAD,— Iraqi health ministry said on Tuesday that four new cases of coronavirus have been registered in Kirkuk province, bringing the total cases in the country to five and marking the first instance of Iraq patients.
The patients are an Iraqi family who had been on a trip to Iran, the ministry said in a statement. They have been placed in quarantine.
Iraq reported its first case of the virus on Monday, an Iranian theology student in the holy Shi’ite city of Najaf.
Iraq’s Kurdistan Region reports no coronavirus cases so far.
People who have arrived in Iraqi Kurdistan from Iran in recent weeks have been taken to a special centre in Erbil to undergo a 14-day monitoring period in order to make sure they are not infected with the virus.
More than 1,000 people are under supervision and quarantined at 13 locations in the Kurdistan Region after returning from Iran, where a significant outbreak of the disease is ongoing.
The KRG Council of Ministers is expected to meet on Tuesday to discuss coronavirus prevention measures and the Kurdistan Region’s stance toward the formation of the new cabinet in Baghdad.
The meeting will be chaired by KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.
Meanwhile in Iran two more people infected with the new coronavirus have died, taking the toll in Iran to 16, a Health Ministry official told state TV on Tuesday.
Iran has the highest number of deaths from coronavirus outside China, where the virus emerged late last year.
“Among those who had been suspected of the virus, 35 have been confirmed and two died of the coronavirus infection,” said Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour. He said 95 people had been infected across Iran.
The Health Ministry urged Iranians to stay at home.
Iran said on Monday 900 cases were suspected, dismissing claims by a lawmaker from the holy Shi’ite city of Qom who said 50 people had died in the city, the epicenter of the new coronavirus outbreak.
“It is an uninvited and inauspicious visitor. God willing we will get through … this virus,” said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in a televised speech.
Iran, which confirmed its first two deaths last week in Qom, has yet to say how many people it has quarantined, but the semi-official Mehr news agency said 320 people had been hospitalized.
(With files from Reuters | nrttv.com | Agencies)
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