Families of Iraqi health ministry workers killed by COVID-19 to receive 10 million dinars

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s Council of Ministers has voted to give a grant of ten million Iraqi dinars (approximately $7,000) to families of COVID-19 victims who were working as Ministry of Health employees, the ministry said on Tuesday.

“The grant payment comes in recognition of our employees efforts for the safety of Iraq's citizens,” the ministry stated.

Almost 14,000 people in Iraq have died of the virus.

Iraqi president Barham Salih has ratified the law on the provision and use of Covid-19 vaccines, his media office said on Tuesday. 

Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sputnik and Sinopharm vaccines have been approved for use in Iraq. State media said Sinopharm vaccinations began on March 2. 

Iraq has also bought into a World Health Organization (WHO)-led vaccine scheme called COVAX to supply vaccines to developing nations.

Baghdad has paid more than $169 million dollars for 16 million doses through COVAX.

“The first batch of the Russian Sputnik vaccine, amounting to one million doses, will arrive in Iraq within two weeks, to be added to the millions of doses that will arrive in succession.” Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi told state media on Thursday.

Coronavirus cases have recently spiked in Iraq, with 4,610 new cases reported on Tuesday. The country has so far registered over 735,626 cases, according to the health ministry.

Following the spread of the new variant and the spike in cases, a series of new measures were introduced to curb spread of the virus, including a comprehensive curfew from Friday to Sunday every week.