Iraqi Kurdistan restricts travel between cities over coronavirus spread fears
A checkpoint in Iraqi Kurdistan, March 2020. Photo: Screengrab/NRT TV
HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced in a statement on Wednesday that it would restrict travel between Iraqi Kurdish Region’s cities between March 14 and March 28 in order to limit the spread of coronavirus.
All travel will be restricted, except for medical teams, diplomats, humanitarian organizations and UN agencies, the security forces, and merchants and businesspeople. Travel for any other purpose will require permission from the Supreme Committee for Coronavirus Response.
The KRG also decided to reduce and limit trade activities at the Bashmakh, Ibrahim Khalil, and Parwezxan border crossings with authority given to the three border points to organize commerce and traffic.
The number of cases of coronavirus in the Kurdistan Region rose to 19 on Wednesday after three new cases were recorded in Erbil. One person has died of coronavirus so far.
Most people who have fallen ill in the Region appear to have contracted the virus in Iran, where there is a major outbreak of the disease. Officials have urged anyone who has recently returned from there to be tested and quarantined.
On Wednesday evening, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic.
Iraqi Kurdistan region has banned the Kurdish New Year (Newroz) celebration due later this month due to coronavirus fears, a statement said on Tuesday.
Iraq’s Ministry of Health and Environment on Tuesday announced the full recovery of 15 individuals who had previously been infected with the coronavirus.
“Health directorate laboratories confirmed the recovery of fifteen individuals infected with the coronavirus, 11 of them in Baghdad and four of them in Kirkuk governorate,” said ministry spokesperson Saif al-Badr.
He added, “The Ministry of Health and Environment affirms its commitment to international health regulations to deal with confirmed and suspected cases of coronavirus, and the remaining patients continue to receive required health care in ministry health facilities.”
There have so far been 69 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Iraq, 15 of them in the Kurdistan Region, and a total of seven deaths.
Copyright © 2020, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | nrttv.com | kurdistan24.net
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