Iraq reports 7,953 new COVID-19 cases, 932,899 in total
BAGHDAD, April 12 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported on Monday 7,953 new coronavirus cases, raising the total nationwide infections to 932,899.
The new cases included 3,052 in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, 952 in Basra, 618 in Wasit, 555 in Duhok, and 409 in Sulaimaniyah, while the other cases were detected in other provinces, the ministry said in a statement.
It also reported 44 new deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 14,757, while the total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 5,679 to 820,532.
A total of 8,552,580 tests have been carried out across the country since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020, with 43,848 done during the day.
It said that 12,174 people were vaccinated during the past 24 hours across the country, bringing the total number of doses received to 152,962.
The Iraqi Higher Committee for Health and National Safety, headed by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, took several decisions regarding health restriction during the holy month of Ramadan, which will start on Tuesday, in an attempt to prevent the current increase of coronavirus infections.
A statement by the committee said that it has decided to extend the partial curfew for an additional hour during the holy month of Ramadan, to start at 8:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m., and the full curfew will continue on Fridays and Saturdays every week throughout the month.
The committee also said allowed food and vegetable shops and bakeries to open during the full curfew days until 7:00 p.m., while the restaurants are allowed to work with home delivery only.
Iraq has taken a series of measures to curb the recent rise in infections after the Health Ministry announced on Feb. 15 the detection of a new strain characterized by faster transmission and a higher level of severity.
The Iraqi National Board for Selection of Drugs has approved the emergency use of the Sinopharm vaccines, in addition to AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Sputnik V vaccines.
Since the early stage of the pandemic in 2020, the Chinese government has sent medical aid to Iraq and donated two shipments of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines to Iraq to help combat the pandemic.