ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Hundreds of people have been quarantined at two hotels in Soran town in the Kurdistan Region’s Erbil province after returning from Iran. The quarantine is in accordance with new measures by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to prevent the spread of coronavirus from Iran.
The outbreak of the virus in the Iranian city of Qom, where two people died of the disease, was a warning to its neighbors including Kurdistan Region and Iraq. Both governments announced new measures on Thursday banning the entry of Iranians to Iraq and barring Iraqis from traveling to Iran.
Thousands of people have returned from Iran since then, but they were all screened by a medical team at Haji Omaran border crossing by a medical team and sent to the neighboring Soran district for further testing. Ashti Public Hospital in Soran has banned people from visiting the patients in the hospital.
The KRG has rented two hotels in Soran for people who have returned from Iran in the last two days. At least 300 people have been quarantined at the two hotels so far, according to Rudaw reporter Bakhtiyar Qadir.
Mohammed Khoshnaw, spokesperson for the KRG's Ministry of Health, told Rudaw on Saturday that they have dedicated a 55-bed hospital in Erbil for potential coronavirus patients, but added that the hospital can take up to 70 people in emergency cases.
Khoshnaw made it clear that no cases of coronavirus have been recorded in the Kurdistan Region.
Sirwan Hussein, spokesperson for Haji Omaran border crossing, told Rudaw that their medical teams work around the clock to test people entering from Iran.
“This is only a precaution to prevent the spread [of the virus]. No cases have been recorded so far. Even those people who visited Iran for a few hours are sent to hospitals.”
Hussein said that trade between the KRG and Iran at Haji Omaran has been held up since last Sunday due to heavy snowfall, but most likely it will resume today.
He also stated that they have stopped allowing Iranian trucks to import goods. Instead, Kurdistan Region’s trucks will enter Iran and transfer the loads from the Iranian drivers.
A doctor from the medical team at Haji Omaran confirmed that no cases have been recorded.
“We do initial testing for them [the returnees] such as their body temperature and to see if they cough or struggle when breathing. All these [tests] will be documented,” he said.
He added that some of the returnees are sent home, while the “suspects” will be kept for two weeks.
The coronavirus outbreak is believed to have originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan. It has killed at least 2,345 people and infected 76,288 worldwide since December.
After quarantining several people suspected of contracting the virus in Qom, Iran’s health ministry confirmed on Thursday that two elderly people had died.
Kianush Jahanpour, spokesperson for the Iranian Health Ministry, was quoted by the state-owned IRNA news agency as saying five people have died, 28 have been diagnosed with coronavirus and 785 are suspected of carrying the disease.
