Iraqi Kurdistan parliament, Erbil, July 2019. Photo: Rudaw
HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— A senior employee in Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s parliament tested positive for coronavirus Tuesday, forcing the legislative body to postpone a planned assembly.
Saman Ahmed, the spokesperson for the Kurdistan Parliament, confirmed the presence of the case, saying a 40-year-old woman was found to be infected by the virus.
“It is the first person in the Kurdistan Parliament to test positive for COVID-19,” the spokesperson added.
Ahmed claims that tests have been conducted on all parliament employees since the identification of the case, and they are waiting on the results.
“Tests have been conducted to all parliament staff, and the presidency board of the parliament is waiting for the results to decide on the fate of the parliament employees, whether they will be quarantined or not,” Ahmed told Rudaw English.
A meeting between the office of parliament’s speaker and the heads of its committees was expected to take place on Tuesday afternoon, but has been postponed as a result of the potential virus outbreak.
“We planned to meet, but the medics were here and they conducted COVID-19 testing for us, and now it has been decided that after the test results are released, the parliament speaker will decide on the fate of the meeting,” Muna Kahveci, Secretary of the Kurdistan Parliament, said.
183 new cases of coronavirus recorded across Iraqi Kurdistan in the past 24-hour, the ministry of health of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said in a statement on Tuesday and late on Monday.
So far, and according to the KRG ministry of health there have been 1,570 cases of coronavirus in Iraqi Kurdistan. A total of 542 patients have recovered, and 28 people have died.
Nearly three-fourths of the total cases recorded in the Kurdistan Region have been identified since May 13. The first case in the Region was recorded on March 1.
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