The Kurdistan Region is easing curfew restrictions in Erbil and Sulaimani, as new cases of the coronavirus decrease, and the number of those who have recovered from the disease increases, leaving around 50 people still being treated in local hospitals.
According to the Ministry of Health, during the past 24 hours, the Kurdistan Region has not recorded any new cases of coronavirus in its four provinces: Erbil, Sulaimani, Duhok and Halabja. This marked the fourth time in a week that the ministry has made such an announcement.
Some 280 patients have recovered from the coronavirus, and all of them have returned to their homes. A total of 337 individuals contracted the disease, a figure that includes four people who died from it.
Following the decrease in COVID-19 cases, authorities have begun to ease restrictions imposed during the lockdown. In the city of Sulaimani, authorities have gradually restored the functioning of local markets and the ability of residents there to resume earning their livelihoods. In Erbil, the directorate of traffic police has turned the traffic lights back on, after they had been shut down for over a month, while it also removed a number of the concrete blocks that it had placed on main streets.
Already in early March, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) began to enforce a strict policy of social distancing. It temporarily suspended all religious services, while it ordered the closure of restaurants, coffee shops, and other entertainment and sports venues.
Early and decisive action has proven a key factor in successfully combating the disease, and the KRG was one of the comparatively few governments in the world, along with South Korea and Germany, to take such action.
As the World Health Organization (WHO’s) representative in Iraq told local media a month ago, “All the measures taken in the Kurdistan Region are correct and are in line with the instructions of the World Health Organization, and the International Health Regulations.”
Kurdistan 24
20/04/2020
