Coronavirus curfew in Sulaimani, Iraqi Kurdistan, April 2020. Photo: NRT
HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) interior ministry decided on Friday to extend the curfew imposed on Iraqi Kurdistan Region to prevent the spread of coronavirus until April 16.
The lockdown had been due to expire on Friday.
There will be a 24 hour window of opportunity from midnight tonight for families separated by the travel ban to reunite, KRG spokesman Jutyar Adil tweeted Friday.
This only applies to families split between separate towns or provinces – not those separated within the same urban area, the spokesman said.
“Our Interior Ministry has extended the travel ban across Kurdistan Region until midnight of April 16 as we fight COVID-19 – UN, aid agencies & diplomatic teams are exempt from movement restrictions. Families separated by the lockdown have 24 hrs to reunite,” Adil tweeted.
Shops and other essential services will be permitted to open from midnight until 6pm, he added.
The new lockdown and full traffic suspension will then come into force from 00:01 am on Sunday.
The curfew restrictions remain the same as before, with residents only allowed outside to shop for food and essential supplies at their local shops, for medical reasons, or otherwise authorized by the government.
The travel restrictions do not include members of the security forces, health workers, UN agencies, and journalists.
So far, and according to the KRG ministry of health there have been 324 cases of coronavirus in Iraqi Kurdistan. A total of 134 patients have recovered, and three people have died.
The World Health Organization has declared the spread of coronavirus, formally known COVID-19, to be a pandemic. The statistics on Friday evening showed that there are over 1,622,000 coronavirus cases globally, including more than 97,200 confirmed deaths, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
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