Seventy-seven new COVID-19 cases were recorded in Sulaimani province late Thursday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Kurdistan Region to over a thousand, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government's health ministry. 

Sulaimani health officials warned Wednesday that the hospitals were “full” and could not accept more novel coronavirus patients. KRG health minister Saman Barzanji has said that they would use hotels as hospitals to meet the community's health needs. 

Although the rate of infection has seemed to slow in recent weeks, the last several days have seen cases and virus-related deaths surge in the Region. 
 
There are about 200 ventilators in the Kurdistan Region: 70 in Sulaimani, 100 in Erbil, 15 in Duhok, 7 in Halabja and two in Garmiyan.

Sulaimani’s newest recorded data brings the Region's case tally to 1,015. Of this, 444 have recovered and 16 have died.

By Karwan Faidhi Dri
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Thirty new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in the Sulaimani province border town of Penjwen, officials reported on Thursday morning.

The town of Penjwen, 100 kilometres east of Sulaimani now has a total of 81 cases of COVID-19, out of which 10 are health staff working at the Bashmakh border crossing into Iran. 

Penjwen has become a flashpoint of rising cases of COVID-19, given that it is located along trading route between the Kurdistan Region and neighboring Iran, which has been heavily gripped by the pandemic in the Middle East.

The Kurdistan Region as a whole has recorded 935 cases of COVID-19. Of this number, 441 have recovered and 14 have died, with 480 cases remaining active.

"Out of 400 tests conducted on a random basis in Penjwen, 30 results turned out to be positive," Khalid Abdulla, who is in charge of the Penjwen township health department, told Rudaw.

"More than 70 percent of the population in Penjwen adhere to the health instructions, but others who do farming are less committed," he added.

Reporting by Aso Sarawi
Editing by Shawn Carrié

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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Sulaimani health authorities on Thursday morning announced the death of another coronavirus patient, raising the death toll in the province to 12.

"The deceased was a 53-year-old man from Sulaimani city," Azad Hawrami, head of Martyr Tahir Ali Hospital, confirmed to Rudaw.

Hawrami added that the deceased had been hospitalized for 19 days as he was experiencing severe symptoms of the pandemic.

Out of 500 people infected with the coronavirus in Sulaimani province, 163 have made full recoveries. Currently, 326 active cases remain.

Health authorities have already warned that three hospitals designed to take in coronavirus patients are running out of space due to a growing number of incoming daily cases.

The Kurdistan Region as a whole has recorded 905 cases of COVID-19. Of this number, 441 have recovered and 14 have died, with 450 cases remaining active.

Following a spike in newly-detected positives for COVID-19, The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) had imposed a six-day lockdown on Monday evening, but reversed its decision on Tuesday evening following protests by locals in Sulaimani province desperate to reopen their businesses after six weeks of closure since mid-March. 

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