ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi and Kurdish officials have begun implementing precautionary measures to prevent the global, deadly coronavirus outbreak from gripping the area, including the evacuation of Iraqi students from the virus' outbreak epicenter in China.
Nazim Rasul, deputy head of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s health department said preparations have been made to inspect travelers visiting the Kurdistan Region via Erbil International Airport.
"We have two thermal cameras at the airport. If we suspect someone [is infected], we will inspect them and send them to the Erbil Teaching Hospital for further examination," Rasul said, adding they will only use the camera and take measures upon order from the KRG and Iraqi governments' health ministries.
Speaking to Rudaw English on Sunday, KRG health ministry spokesperson Mohammed Khoshnaw downplayed the current threat level of the virus to the Kurdistan Region.
"The threat of the coronavirus outbreak is not yet in the Middle East including the Kurdistan Region," he said. "We have not yet taken any external measures at airports or borders."
The disease first broke out in the Chinese city of Wuhan, currently on lockdown to control the spread of the virus. Forty-one of the city’s inhabitants have died from the virus. Amid its spread, China’s President Xi Jinping on Saturday described the situation as “grave”.
Coronavirus symptoms include a runny nose, cough, sore throat and a headache. Those with compromised immune systems are at a higher risk of contracting the disease.
Though the bulk of confirmed cases of infection are in and around Wuhan, the virus has reached France, Australia, and the United States, according to AFP.
According to Khoshnaw, measures taken in the Kurdistan Region are based on requests from the Iraqi government and the World Health Organization (WHO).
"Domestically, we have designated intensive care units across the cities of the Kurdistan Region to be prepared for any possible cases of the virus," Khoshnaw said.
"In the Kurdistan Region, we have not examined anyone suspected of having coronavirus," he added.
"We advise people to protect themselves by washing their hands, putting on masks when going to public and crowded places, and reducing interactions such as handshakes."
Iraqis in China on alert
Bako Hazar Merdi, a Kurd who has resided in the eastern China city of Yiwu for 13 years, told Rudaw English that national authorities have implemented strict measures.
"The government has urged everyone to stay indoors unless it is very necessary," he said. "We have been told that if we go out, we must put masks on."
Citing local officials, Bako told Rudaw that 58 Iraqi students and their families live in Wuhan city.
The fate of these students, their families and other Iraqis in China has worried authorities in Baghdad. Iraq’s foreign minister Mohammed Ali al-Hakeem announced on Saturday that he is in contact with Chinese authorities regarding their fate.
“The Iraqi Foreign Affairs [Ministry] through our Ambassador in Beijing is monitoring the conditions of the large number of students, businessmen, shipping offices and Iraqi tourists with Chinese authorities to ensure their safety and facilitate the task of transferring them to safe areas,” Hakeem said in a Saturday tweet.
“Medical teams have been stationed in Iraq at airports and border crossings, conducting checkups on arrivals from China,” the minister announced.
According to a Saturday foreign ministry statement, the Iraqi embassy in China has established an operations room to coordinate with China’s foreign ministry office in Wuhan to “provide services to them [students], evacuate them”.
As of yet, no Iraqi has yet been infected by the virus, according to a Sunday email from the embassy.
According to Hakeem, Iraq’s caretaker Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi supervised a Sunday morning meeting between multiple ministries and the Iraqi Red Crescent Society to “discuss the coronavirus developments, the measures that need to be taken at border crossings, and mechanisms of evacuating the Iraqi diaspora in Wuhan in China”.
Additional reporting by Mohammed Rwanduzy and Zhelwan Z. Wali
