Iraqi Kurdistan extends coronavirus curfew by five more days
Due to coronavirus curfew, people caught driving without authorization will be fined and risk having their vehicle impounded, Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, March 17, 2020. Photo: Rudaw
HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— The Kurdistan Regional Government on Wednesday extended a lockdown designed to prevent the spread of coronavirus by five more days in Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
Earlier, the Ministry of Health had requested that the government extend the curfew, which will now end on March 23.
The new curfew will apply to all parts of the Kurdistan Region.
“I have visited Sulaimani to observe closely how the measures are being implemented and found them very good,” KRG Minister of Interior Rebar Ahmad said during a press conference.
He added that trade activities have been reduced at the Region’s borders and warned that the combined effect of the recent fall in oil prices and the disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak have had a direct impact on government income, he added.
Sulaimani Governor Haval Abubakr also said during the press conference that government offices and private sector companies cannot make their employees come into work until March 23, except those that were allowed to continue to operate under regulations announced earlier.
An initial 48-hour curfew was imposed on March 14 by the Ministry of Interior and was later extended by 72-hours. It was set to expire at midnight.
By limiting social interactions between members of the public, the Ministry of Health said that the lockdown has had a positive impact on containing the virus.
There have been 38 cases of coronavirus, known formally as COVID-19, in the Kurdistan Region so far. One person has died, while the number of those who have recovered has begun to rise, with nine people released from the hospital.
A limited number of businesses remain open, such as bakeries and vegetable stands, so that people are able to access food and necessities. Otherwise, people are encouraged to stay home and limit their potential exposure to the virus.
People caught driving without authorization will be fined and risk having their vehicle impounded.
The KRG Ministry of Health said on Wednesday that laboratory tests for pandemic diseases, including coronavirus, can only be performed in public health laboratories.
According to the Region’s public health law, laboratory testing for coronavirus in private laboratories, hospitals, or any other laboratories is prohibited, it said.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Ministry of Health announced that over the past fifteen days 3,207 people visited Ali Naji clinic in Sulaimani to be tested for coronavirus.
Meanwhile mayor of Soran said on Wednesday that authorities have arrested an Iranian family who illegally entered Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
The family was trying to reach Soran through Qandil, but were arrested by Warte’s border police in Rawanduz, Mayor Kirmanj Ezat told NRT TV.
Meanwhile, Soran Health Director Karwan Jamal said that, in the light of guidelines laid out by the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Ministry of Health, authorities are preparing to deport the family, so they have not been put through local quarantine procedures.
At the moment they are being kept at a mosque in Gojarr village in Warte, he added.
Copyright © 2020, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | nrttv.com
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