Medical workers in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, April 2020. Photo: Rudaw
HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— Ten new cases of coronavirus recorded in Iraqi Kurdistan in the past 24-hour, the ministry of health of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said in a statement on Sunday and Monday.
3 new infections of coronavirus recorded in Sulaimani, 7 new cases in Erbil.
Erbil had gone almost two weeks without any new cases, prompting authorities to relax lockdown measures in time for the start of Ramadan. Now new cases are beginning to emerge.
So far, and according to the KRG ministry of health there have been 355 cases of coronavirus in Iraqi Kurdistan. A total of 322 patients have recovered, and four people have died.
In March 2020 the World Health Organization has declared the spread of coronavirus, formally known COVID-19, to be a pandemic. The statistics on Monday evening showed that there are over 3,017,806 coronavirus cases globally, including more than 209,661 confirmed deaths, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
The KRG’s interior ministry extended the lockdown until May 1, but granted local governments the authority to ease curfew measures, leading to the reopening of most of businesses and the removal of most checkpoints inside and outside cities.
However, KRG health minister Saman Barzinji warned on Thursday that the easing of lockdown measures does not mean the crisis has passed.
“The new measures are aimed at serving the public, and do not mean the disease is at an end. The COVID-19 threat is not over yet. We have to expect its spread at any moment, and we have to continue preventing and confronting corona[virus] and adhere to health instructions,” he said.
(with files from rudaw.net | nrttv.com)
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