ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – New travel restrictions were announced on Thursday by the governments of Baghdad and Erbil to prevent the spread of coronavirus from Iran, where a recent outbreak in the city of Qom has killed two people.
After quarantining several people suspected of contracting the virus in Qom, Iran’s health ministry confirmed on Thursday that two elderly people had died.
The deaths forced Iranian authorities to set up a crisis cell to respond to a potential outbreak of the virus, which has killed at least 2,118 people and infected 74,546 worldwide since December.
Neighboring Iraq and the Kurdistan Region have responded with new measures to prevent the transmission of the virus from Iran.
Both had already imposed measures in late January.
Nationwide campaign
Masrour Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), has assigned a budget to help prevent an outbreak in Kurdistan Region.
“We will provide all material and moral support to protect the health of the people of the Kurdistan Region,” KRG spokesperson Jutyar Adil told local reporters on Thursday.
The KRG will launch a campaign next week, which will include the public distribution of leaflets explaining signs and symptoms and how to prevent transmission.
“We will begin next week and it will continue until the World Health Organization returns its status to normal,” Chiman Taha, head of KRG’s protection and health directorate, told Rudaw.
Additionally, the KRG Ministry of the Interior has decided to bar all border traffic with Iran, according to an official at the Parvizkhan border crossing.
In a statement on Friday, the official said, “Following an Kurdistan Regional Government Ministry of Interior decree, Parvizkhan’s residency department was notified by Sulaimani Residency Directorate, starting from February 21, 2020 at 00:00, that movement of tourists from Iraq to Iran and vice versa is to be halted."
The statement went on to explain further: "Iraqis currently in Iran wishing to return to Iraq will be notified that they are permitted to return to Iraqi soil and Kurdistan Region after tests conducted by the Health Department of Parvizkhan. A doctor of the department will issue an official letter to assure the residency department of the health stability [of the returnees]."
Three medical centres have been opened in Erbil, Sulaimani, and Duhok provinces to assess possible cases of the virus.
Sources told Rudaw that 104 people, including Kurds and some Chinese, have been monitored at the centers and since given the all clear.
Baghdad measures
Millions of Iranians come to Iraq every year to visit the Shiite shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala. Such pilgrimages could bring the virus to Iraq if precautions are not taken.
On Thursday, Iraq’s health minister Jaafar Sadeq Allawi said he has also allotted a budget to help contain the virus.
His ministry “will take necessary actions at airports, border crossings, and sea [ports] across Iraq and we have dedicated institutions to deal with suspected cases, if any,” Allawi said.
Among the Iraqi health ministry’s measures is “preventing all entries from the Islamic Republic of Iran to Iraq at all crossings until further notice, except for diplomatic delegations who will be subjected to medical tests.”
Iraqis currently in Iran must undergo a 14-day monitoring period before they are allowed to return home. Iraqis are also not permitted to visit Iran unless they are part of a diplomatic delegation.
All Iraqis who have returned from Iran in the last 14 days will be checked at their homes by medical teams.
The Iraqi government has also suspended all Iraqi Airlines flights serving Najaf and Baghdad routes to Iran until further notice.
The coronavirus outbreak is believed to have originated from the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Although cases of infection in China have dropped significantly in recent days, incidences of infection and death outside China are showing little sign of relent.
This article was updated at 9:52 AM (GMT+3) On February 21, 2020.
