Iraq News Now

HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) interior ministry has announced a complete six-day lockdown to begin at 6 pm on Monday, June 1, after Iraqi Kurdistan recorded its highest ever single-day number of COVID-19 cases.

According to the KRG interior ministry decree published in the early hours of Monday, all non-emergency travel will be prohibited, exempting only medical teams and security forces.

Government offices and businesses will be closed; only pharmacies will be permitted to stay open. Bakeries will be allowed to operate from 6 am to 1 pm daily.

The strict measures were announced after 101 people in Sulaimani and Halabja provinces tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Sunday, according to a KRG health ministry statement.

The 101 new cases “include men, women, boys and girls of all ages,” the ministry said in its statement.

So far, and according to the KRG ministry of health there have been 728 cases of coronavirus in Iraqi Kurdistan. A total of 420 patients have recovered, and seven people have died.

Despite increase in coronavirus cases, New Generation MP claims new curfew is response to call for protests

The head of the New Generation caucus in the Kurdistan Parliament Kazim Faruq speculated on Monday that the re-implementation of curfew measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus was in fact a response to a call by the Movement two days ago for protests against the government and the ruling parties.

“As a doctor and a member of parliament’s health committee, I doubt the data released by the government,” Faruq said in a post on his Facebook, citing international examples of countries where restrictions are easing despite new cases being recorded to argue that the Kurdistan Region should not go back into a curfew.

He also said that the government should do more to mitigate the economic impact of the curfew.

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