Iraq
An Iraqi shops for facemasks in the capital Baghdad on February 14, 2021, after the Health Ministry announced it will impose a fine on anyone caught without a mask starting next week. Photo: Sabah Arar / AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Several cases of a new variant of COVID-19 were recorded for the first time in Iraq, the health ministry announced on Monday.
"The new variant can affect children, as we have recorded several cases among children,” Iraq’s health minister, Hassan Tamimi, announced at a press conference on Monday, calling on citizens to adhere to the health instructions.
Tamimi referred to the strain as the one "which spread in the UK," according to AFP.
He added that health teams will go patrol the streets starting on Tuesday and impose a 25,000 Iraqi dinar ($17 US dollars) fine, noting that the ministry is monitoring the prices of masks at pharmacies.
Raad Al-Mashhadani, the spokesman for Iraq's ministry of communications, told state media on Sunday that the ministry will soon launch an application for people to register for a COVID-19 vaccine once available.
Iraq’s national health and safety committee on Saturday announced imposing restrictions on movement and social gathering in Iraq starting from February 18, as cases of the coronavirus in the country grow in number.
Last month, Iraq announced a travel ban to prevent the spread of a new variant of the coronavirus first found in the United Kingdom.
Coronavirus cases have spiked in Iraq in recent weeks, with 2,798 cases in 24 hours announced by the health ministry on Monday. The country has so far registered over 640,000 cases, according to the ministry.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) health ministry also warned on Saturday of a new wave of coronavirus infections amid the rapid spread of new variants worldwide.
A curfew for the Kurdistan Region has yet to be decided upon, Aso Hawezi, a spokesperson for the KRG health ministry told Rudaw English on Saturday, but "decisions could change according to the circumstances.”
Kurdistan Region schools were reopened last week under new coronavirus guidelines announced by the Ministry of Education after they were ordered shut and re-opened several times over the past year due to the pandemic.
Updated at 19:42
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