Sulaimani electricity directorate shuts down COVID-hit departments

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Sulaimani’s electricity directorate has stopped work at two departments for a week after an outbreak of coronavirus. One employee has died and more than 20 others are ill with the virus. 

“We inform the people of Sulaimani and surrounding areas, for the sake of everyone’s safety and due to the high infection rate in our service and sales departments with the coronavirus and the death of one of our employees – starting today those departments will be closed for a week,” reads a statement from the Sulaimani General Directorate of Electricity on Sunday.

The directorate told people not to visit their offices.

The head of the Sales Department said he asked the general director to order the shutdown to prevent further spread of the virus. “We have more than 20 people infected with the corona virus,” Abdul Sheikh Qadir told Rudaw’s Dildar Herki.

“Over the past 10 days, the health directorate in Sulaimani came and performed tests on our employees, and the number of infected increases every day,” he added. “Our employee who passed away last night had tested positive. She was asymptomatic at first, however her situation got worse over time.”

The Kurdistan Region saw a sharp increase in new infections following Newroz celebrations in March. In April, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced a nighttime curfew that was lifted for the Muslim holy fasting of Ramadan. 

On Wednesday, the KRG announced there will be a 3-day lockdown during the Eid al-Fitr holiday following Ramadan.

The Kurdistan Region’s health ministry has recorded at total of 151,257 cases and 4,032 deaths since the start of the pandemic.