IRC: Iraqis are struggling to buy bread
Shafaq news / The International Rescue Committee called for redoubling efforts to limit the outbreak of Covid-19 in Iraq that reached a 600% rise in cases through June.
“With the number of confirmed cases standing at 53,708 on July 1 - up from 6,868 on June 1 - the Ministry of Health has announced that hospitals are almost at full capacity”, IRC added.
In addition to the direct impact of the pandemic, thousands of people have been affected indirectly by the economic impacts of the lockdown.
A recent survey of 1,491 people carried out by the IRC found that:
87 per cent had lost their jobs as a result of the lockdowns
73 per cent were reducing the amount of food they were eating to reduce costs
68 per cent were spending their savings
61 per cent were going into debt
68 per cent of respondents said that psychological trauma, stress and anxiety were the main issues affecting women and girls during the COVID-19 outbreak
“As protests across the country resume again in earnest, the IRC is calling for more to be done to ensure that people are aware of how the disease is spread and how they can properly protect themselves - and others - so that the situation can be brought under control and people no longer have to resort to negative coping mechanisms to survive”. IRC said.
Christine Petrie, Country Director for the IRC in Iraq, said, “The rate at which COVID-19 is spreading through Iraq is extremely alarming, We’re seeing more than a thousand new cases confirmed each day - sometimes more than 2,000, Although tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs and are struggling to find the money to even buy bread”.
“Once things stabilize there will be a lot of work to do to help people get back on their feet. Their loss of livelihoods will have taken a heavy toll on people’s mental health, which was already in a fragile state after decades of conflict and instability. Now is not the time to lose focus on supporting Iraqis after everything they have been through and are continuing to come to terms with.”
The Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Adel Al-Rikabi, said in a press statement: "After the outbreak of Covid-19 in all countries of the world, which led to an unprecedented collapse in oil prices globally, the matter reflected negatively on increasing the poverty rate in the country, to become 34 %".
Al-Rikabi added that the ministry "seeks to cooperate with international communities to find quick solutions to poverty and unemployment."