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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Any passengers traveling from Erbil and Sulaimani international airports in the Kurdistan Region must test negative for coronavirus to be permitted to fly, according to Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) health ministry.
Ministry spokesperson Mohammed Qadir told Rudaw on Monday that all airports in the Kurdistan Region have been informed that passengers must be tested for COVID-19 48 hours before their flight, and will only be allowed to travel if the results are negative.
“The results of the tests will take 12-24 hours to be confirmed,” Qadir said.
All passengers must pay for their tests, with the exception of students and those applying for medical treatment abroad, who will be tested for free.
The cost of a single test is 100,000 Iraqi dinars ($84).
As part of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Iraqi Civil Air Authority banned commercial passenger flights on March 17. The ban has been extended several times since.
Despite the ban, a limited number of charter flights have allowed foreign nationals to leave the country.
After months of no travel, Iraq reopened its airspace for commercial flights on July 23. However, Erbil and Sulaimani airports remain closed until August 1 – with the interior minister saying the Region’s airports were “unprepared” for the July opening.
The KRG’s Ministry of Health recorded 185 new COVID-19 cases, 144 recoveries and five deaths on Monday.
The new data brings the total number of cases in the Region to 12,635 since the confirmation of the first case on March 1. Of this, 8,556 have recovered and 496 have died.
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