Iraq News Now

HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Wednesday decided to suspend all religious ceremonies at mosques, churches, and temples in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region indefinitely as a preventative measure against the spread of coronavirus.

In an extraordinary cabinet meeting attended by KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, KRG Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, and other senior officials, the government reviewed the measures being taken at all hospitals, border crossings, and medical centers in Kurdistan Region and discussed ways to balance the urgent need to protect the public and ensure that trade and commerce with neighboring countries continued to flow.

To reduce the damage that the virus and the government’s preparations will do to the businesses, shops, and restaurants, it was decided that each ministry shall independently take measures to reduce the fees and taxes on the places that the governorates closed to prevent damages done to the places.

The KRG also said it will to provide all necessary aid and medical assistance to displaced people living in the Region’s camps in coordination with UN agencies and NGOs.

The KRG’s decisions came after the Kurdistan Region on Wednesday recorded its first coronavirus death, although the cause of death was disputed by the federal ministry of health.

Iraq’s Health Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that it was not clear whether a death reported as Iraq’s first coronavirus death had in fact been from the new virus.

A local health department said earlier on Wednesday that an elderly man in the Kurdish province of Sulaimani had succumbed to the disease.

Iraq has so far has recorded 31 cases of the new coronavirus, one Iranian student who has since been sent home and 30 Iraqis who had all visited Iran recently.

Copyright © 2020, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | nrttv.com | Reuters

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