More than 100 Iraqi pilgrims from Kirkuk and Mosul provinces returned home from Saudi Arabia via Erbil International Airport (EIA) on Monday after being stranded abroad

The spread of COVID-19 has caused governments, including Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, to ban passenger flights – leaving scores of people stuck overseas.

The Kurdistan Regional Government’s Department of Foreign Relations (DFR) said in a statement late Monday it “coordinated” a flight for 118 people from Mosul and Kirkuk provinces who were in Saudi Arabia for the Umrah pilgrimage. 

“The pilgrims returned directly to Mosul and Kirkuk provinces by bus,” the statement added.

The ministry has also brought home Kurdish students from Turkey and Cyprus who were stranded due to the flight ban and border closures.

“In the coming days, a number of Kurdistan Region citizens stuck in Europe, Jordan and Armenia will return home,” added the DFR statement. 

The current flight ban in Iraq and Kurdistan Region is due to expire on April 18.

By Karwan Faidhi Dri 

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Twenty-two people have recovered from COVID-19 in Kurdistan Region’s capital city of Erbil, according to a statement from local health officials, bringing the total number of recoveries to 190.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases stands at  331, including 190 recoveries and four deaths, according to the Region’s health ministry. The total number of active cases is currently 137. 

The ministry said in a statement late Monday that they conducted 1,792 tests across the region on Sunday, all of which were negative. 

One new case was confirmed shortly afterwards after a 65-year-old man in Sulaimani contracted the virus.

Currently, Erbil province is the Region's epicenter of the virus, following the infection of more than a hundred people who attended two illegal wakes on March 21 and 23. A total of 169 cases have been recorded in Erbil since the outbreak began, and 74 have recovered. 

Local officials are planning to ease the current lockdown, saying the Region has passed the worst stage of the virus. The lockdown expires on Thursday and it will be eased step-by-step. 

Erbil Governor Firsat Sofi announced earlier today that lockdown measures in his province will be slowly eased from April 16 onwards. KRG Health Minister Saman Barzanji appeared to second Sofi's caution on the relaxing of lockdown measures, saying the disease had yet to be "completely controlled".

"We are still in danger," the health minister said.

"We need time to study the situation. But the test results are promising," he added.

By Karwan Faidhi Dri 

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Two-day lockdowns will continue in Turkey on the weekends in order to contain COVID-19, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters on Monday.

He did not elaborate whether this applies to the whole country or just to the 31 cities put on lockdown last week.

“Lockdown will continue on weekends,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul after leading a cabinet meeting which was conducted via videoconference, reported state-owned Anadolu Agency (AA).

He added that the next lockdown starts at midnight on Friday and will run to 12am on Sunday.

The announcement of the lockdown in 31 cities late Friday, only two hours before it took effect, caused crowded gatherings across Turkey as many people rushed to the streets to buy essentials. The government was widely criticized for the surprise lockdown.

The lockdown covered Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Aydın, Balıkesir, Bursa, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Hatay, İstanbul, İzmir, Kahramanmaras, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, Mersin, Mugla, Ordu, Sakarya, Samsun, Sanliurfa, Tekirdag, Trabzon, Van, and Zonguldak, according to a statement from the interior ministry.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu  took full responsibility of the chaos late Sunday and offered his resignation, which was later rejected by Erdogan.

Soylu announced on Monday that he is “humbled” by Erdogan’s rejection and the alleged support for him from the public, and said that he will continue to serve as interior minister.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a tweet on late Monday that the number of cases of coronavirus has reached 61,049 as the country recorded 4,093 new cases in the last 24 hours.

Koca added that 98 new deaths and 511 recoveries have been recorded during this period, bringing the total death toll to 1,296 and the recoveries to 3,957.

By Karwan Faidhi Dri 

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Yezidi spiritual leader Hazim Tahsin Beg has cancelled New Year celebrations scheduled for Wednesday in order to adhere to the measures announced by governments to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, according to an official statement released on Monday.

Yezidi New Year is designated a public holiday by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Followers of the faith gather in temples, including the holy site of Lalish, near Dohuk, to mark the occasion. 

Beg congratulated the community on the New Year and called on Yezidis across the globe to “adhere to instructions and decisions issued by governments, relevant authorities and the crisis cell[s],” according to a statement published to Facebook. 

The Yezidi population is estimated to be around 700,000 across the world, most of whom live in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. 

Beg also asked Yezidis to “refrain from any gatherings or celebrations related to the Sari Sal (new year) for this year.”

The religious minority suffered genocide under the Islamic State (ISIS) when militants took control of Shingal in 2014, killing hundreds of Yezidi men and enslaving thousands of women and children.

Forced from their homes, spread across the world as refugees, and mourning their missing loved ones, Yezidis did not celebrate their New Year for several years. Last year they held their second celebration, four years after the genocide began.

By Karwan Faidhi Dri

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Iraqi authorities recorded 26 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths on Monday, according to the health ministry. 

This is the lowest number of cases that has been reported in Iraq since the beginning of April. 

By province, seven cases were documented in the capital Baghdad, six in Basra, three in Wasit, three in Diwaniyah, two in Babil, two in Dhi Qar, two in Najaf, and one in Misan. 

No cases have been reported in the Kurdistan Region. 

The two deaths were both recorded in Baghdad. Seventy-seven people have also recovered from the virus.

The total number of confirmed cases is 1,378. Of these, 78 have died and 717 have recovered.

By Lawk Ghafuri

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No coronavirus cases were recorded in the Kurdistan Region in the last 24 hours, according to health minister Saman Barzanji, adding to hopes expressed today by a province governor that the worst of the outbreak may be over.

"A total of 1,792 tests for coronavirus were done in the last 24 hours in the Kurdistan Region, and thankfully no one tested positive," Barzanji said in a press conference on Monday afternoon.

"Tests are being done today across all the cities of the Kurdistan Region and we hope they too turn out to be negative," he added.

Barzanji attributed the significant decline of the positive cases in the past few days to people's commitment to the lockdown measures.

Erbil Governor Firsat Sofi announced earlier today that lockdown measures in his province will cautiously be eased from April 16 onwards. Barzanji appeared to second Sofi's caution on the relaxing of lockdown measures, saying the disease had yet to be "completely controlled".

"We are still in danger," the health minister said.

"We need time to study the situation. But the test results are promising," he added.

According to the latest figures from Kurdistan Regional Government health officials, 168 of the 330 people confirmed to have contracted the virus have recovered, while four have died. 

By Zhelwan Z. Wali
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Three Turkish prisoners have died from the coronavirus, Turkey's justice minister said Monday as he announced the first cases of convicts diagnosed with the disease.

A total of 17 convicts in five open prisons have contracted the virus, Abdulhamit Gul told reporters in Ankara. 

"Three of them unfortunately died during their treatment in hospital," he said.

Some convicts are sent to open prisons towards the end of their sentences to serve out the remainder of their punishment as the state prepares them for release.

They are given permission to leave for temporary periods and must accept work, according to the Civil Society in Penal System Association.

Thirteen of the sick convicts are in a good condition in hospital, Gul said, but one prisoner with chronic diseases remains in intensive care.

He did not give any further details on where the prisoners were but insisted the necessary precautions had been taken in every jail.

"There are no positive cases in closed prisons," he added.

Turkey has nearly 57,000 COVID-19 infections and around 1,200 have died, according to health ministry figures published Sunday.

The confirmation of positive cases came before Turkish lawmakers were expected to continue debating Monday a draft law to release 90,000 inmates from overcrowded prisons.

Human rights groups have criticised the proposal because it will not include political prisoners charged under Turkey's controversial anti-terrorism laws. 

Reporting by Agence France-Presse. Continue Reading

Iran has recorded 111 deaths and 1,670 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the country's  health ministry announced on Monday.

The country's novel coronavirus case total is now 73,303, and its death toll now stands at 4,585.

Over 45,000 recoveries have been recorded so far, the ministry added.
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Seven Kurds in the US have so far tested positive for COVID-19, a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) representative to the US has told Rudaw, and eight residents of the Kurdistan Region remain stranded in the virus-stricken country.

“Nearly 60,000 Kurds live in the US. Through our follow ups, we have learnt that seven Kurds have contracted the virus, with many of them working in the health sector,” Barzan Ardalan, Director of Consular and Community Affairs at the KRG Representation in the United States told Rudaw.

“Of this number, a nurse named Akhink Omer, 31, has recovered,” Ardalan added.

“We had 12 cases of stranded Kurdish people in the US. Four of them were able to return and eight are stuck.”

Many Kurds and Iraqi nationals have been left stranded overseas by worldwide closures of airports and land borders, appealing to Erbil and Baghdad for help to return home.

“Among those stranded are patients who have come to the US for medical treatment,” he said, adding the KRG representation in the US is in constant talks to make their return happen
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The US has the highest COVID-19 case total of any country in the world with 557,590 cases recorded to date, according to Johns Hopkins University. Of this number, over 20,000 have died and over 30,000 have recovered.

An Iraqi foreign ministry spokesperson announced last week that more than 3,600 Iraqis stranded overseas amid the lockdown have been brought home.

Sahaf said on April 8 that 162 Iraqis overseas were confirmed to have contracted the virus, including 40 Iraqis in the US. A total of nine Iraqis abroad have died after contracting COVID-19, the spokesperson added.

By Zhelwan Z. Wali Continue Reading

Erbil Governor Firsat Sofi has announced plans to ease lockdown measures in the province as incidences of coronavirus infection appear to be on the decline.

Sofi said the relaxing of some restrictions on non-essential movement would apply from April 16, the day the lockdown in its current form is scheduled to end. The province and the wider Kurdistan Region have been put on varying degrees of lockdown since March 13.

"We have passed the severe phase. Things seem to be getting better. But it does not mean that everything [the COVID-19 outbreak] is under control," governor Firsat Sofi told Rudaw on Monday.

Fears that the outbreak would come to grip the city grew after a surge in cases recorded in the province, traced to two wakes held in the east Erbil neighbourhood of Karezan on March 21 and 23.

But according to Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) figures, the rate of infection has since slowed. The governor called the news of just one person in the province testing positive in the past three days "promising."

"In the meantime the number of recoveries is on the rise," he added. Up until the morning of April 13, 168 of 330 people confirmed to have contracted the virus have recovered, according to
KRG health officials.

But Sofi warned against a swift reversal of lockdown measures, for fear of a resurgence in cases.

"We will pay the price if we completely lift the curfew and let life and businesses to fully normalize as the danger of the pandemic continues," Sofi said.  "We do not want in two days to waste all our hard work and the sleepless nights we have spent together and the hunger we've endured over the past months.”

"So things will be brought back to normal in different phases and according to a plan."

By Zhelwan Z. Wali
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Aid groups and Middle East analysts have once more warned of looming disaster in war-torn Syria as the country tries to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

The outbreak has infected more than 1.8 million people and killed more than 112,000 around the world since emerging in China in December last year.

But Syria's official numbers are low, with only two deaths and 19 confirmed cases. Only 100 patients are being tested daily, with half of the testing carried out in the capital Damascus.

Experts accuse Damascus of minimising its death toll for political motives.

"Medical staff believe that there are many people who are dying in Syria with the symptoms of the virus," said Zaki Mehchy, senior consulting fellow at London-based think tank Chatham House told AFP.

"But the security agencies ask them or order them not to mention it, especially to the media," he added. 

But Gharibah said politicisation of the pandemic by the Syrian government was catastrophic, accusing the regime of "using the current pandemic for its own political gains by gambling with the lives of millions of people". 

Nine years of war in the country have hit hospitals and left them ill-equipped to deal with the pandemic. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), less than two-thirds of hospitals were up and running at the end of 2019 and 70 percent of healthcare workers have fled since the war began in 2011. 

"There is a disaster in the making," said Emile Hokayem, Middle East analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London (IISS) told AFP.

Activists have repeatedly accused the government of targeting hospitals in rebel-held areas, a charge denied by Damascus.

WHO said testing would start in Idlib at the end of March, but little help is to be expected from Damascus, according to Mazen Gharibah, associate researcher at the London School of Economics.

"One cannot simply assume that the regime -- which was systematically targeting the hospitals three weeks ago -- is going to provide the same hospitals with medical equipment next week," he told AFP.

The Kurdish-controlled northeast is less damaged by war than other parts of Syria. But unlike Syria's rebel-held northwest, where UN aid enters via Turkey, the northeast is deprived of cross-border channels for UN medical assistance.

The area has in recent months become increasingly reliant on Damascus for aid after Russia blocked proposals to renew the mandate for humanitarian to be routed through the border with Iraq, insisting that aid be come through Damascus, where it can be controlled and conditioned by the Syrian government.

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Sunday dispatched coronavirus testing equipment to northeast Syria, an area otherwise known by Kurds as Rojava. The aid was sent in response to a request for aid by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi, according to an official from President Barzani's office.

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The Kurdistan Regional Government advises anyone in the Kurdistan Region displaying coronavirus symptoms to call its emergency hotline on 122. This service is available in Kurdish and Arabic 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. More information can be found on the government’s website.

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