A coronavirus center in Iraqi Kurdistan, March 2020. Photo: Rudaw
Updated
HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— Fourteen new cases of coronavirus recorded in Iraqi Kurdistan in the past 24-hour, the ministry of health of Kurdistan Regional Government KRG said.
The health ministry reported eight cases late on Tuesday and six cases on Wednesday.
The newest patients include three men and three women. One patient returned from UK on February 26.
Four others are associated with an outbreak in Malla Omar community, located 16 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of Erbil city.
On Tuesday, five of the new cases are in Sulaimani governorate, including four women and one man. Three of the patients are from Sulaimani city and the rest are from Darbandikhan.
The remaining three cases are in Duhok governorate, including two men and one woman. Two of the patients are residents of Zakho and the other is from Amedi.
The KRG health minister said on Wednesday that the vast majority of coronavirus infections in the Region resulted from local community transmission.
Of the Kurdistan Region’s 176 cases, 139 (79%) were patients who were infected locally and 37 (21%) contacted the virus abroad before traveling to the Region, KRG Minister of Health Saman Barzinji said in a statement.
“The numbers are a dangerous indication,” Barzinji said, adding that some were the result of people failing to follow public health guidelines regarding social distancing.
“Take care of your health and of your families. Stay at home and avoid close contact,” he advised.
So far, and according to the KRG ministry of health there have been 176 cases of coronavirus in Iraqi Kurdistan. A total of 61 patients have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus infection, and two have died from it.
The World Health Organization has declared the spread of coronavirus, formally known COVID-19, to be a pandemic. The statistics on Wednesday evening showed that there are over 887,000 coronavirus cases globally, including more than 44,200 confirmed deaths, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
(with files from nrttv.com)
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