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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Erbil local authorities decided on Saturday to ease existing lockdown measures, including allowing shops and restaurants to reopen during the day.
According to the latest measures from Erbil Province Operations Room, shops and markets will be allowed to open from 5am to 8pm. Restaurants may also open during this time, but can only deliver.
Government offices will reopen at 30 percent capacity on Sunday to Wednesday from 9am to 1pm, with strict health instructions. This decision does not include the health department, police, Asayesh or security apparatus and service departments.
There are no restrictions on traffic but travel between provinces will remain banned until further notice.
Mosques, churches and all holy sites and shrines are to remain closed. Funeral wakes are also prohibited.
Other places including language teaching centers, public and private parks, children’s playground areas, cinemas, party halls, nightclubs, bars, shisha venues, gyms, swimming pools, massage centers and public baths are also to remain shut.
A total lockdown will be imposed on Fridays, with only pharmacies and bakeries allowed to open.
From June 28, Erbil provincial authorities had imposed an almost complete lockdown in an effort to control the growing number of novel coronavirus cases, a move which Governor Firsat Sofi described on Saturday as being "very successful."
"Yesterday, we just had 39 infections. But today, it has dropped to 25," Sofi said at a press conference. "If we continue on the self-protection, the numbers will surely further decline ."
"It is true that it withheld the life and livelihood of people for six days, but preserved the economy of Erbil for one year," Sofi said.
The governor says they previously mulled declaring a 28-day-long lockdown but "we knew it would be very difficult."
He also urged the people of Erbil to stay home and "self-quarantine for 22 days."
Erbil has seen a total of 1,572 COVID-19 cases, 580 of which remain active. Twenty nine people in the province have died after contracting the virus, according to an interactive dashboard from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Sulaimani has been the Kurdistan Region province worst-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, recording over two-thirds of the Region's total cases. It has also recorded the vast majority of coronavirus-related deaths - 198 of 231.
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