New strain of coronavirus detected in Iraqi Kurdistan Region

ERBIL, Iraq (North Press) – On Sunday, the Ministry of Health in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRG) issued instructions for the residents to avoid the risk of the spread of the new strain of coronavirus.

The KRG Health Minister, Saman Barzanji, said that the spread of the virus is “rapid”, and he called on the residents to “take care of themselves and their children by wearing face masks and applying physical distancing.”

“The supreme committee to combat coronavirus will meet in the coming two days,” Rahil Faridoun, Ministry of Health Deputy, said in a press conference on Sunday.

He referred to a set of options, including limiting movement and tightening procedures between the governorates of the Region and with the rest of Iraq, by subjecting the arrivals to a PCR test.

He stressed that this option “has now been activated in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and the governorates.”

For the first time, the Ministry of Health announced that five cases of the new strain of coronavirus were confirmed in Erbil.