ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iraq's Ministry of Health has said that 50 percent of new COVID-19 cases are from the UK strain of the virus, according to an official statement published on Thursday.
The strain has spread widely in the past three days, health minister Hassan al-Tamimi said in a press conference, with a number of children and adolescents in a critical condition.
"There is a significant increase in the rate of critical cases in hospitals, which puts great pressure on health institutions," Tamimi said, calling for implementation of the curfew, adherence to health advice, and assistance to security forces and health teams.
The UK variant, which was first detected in England in September 2020, poses "a great danger if preventive measures are not taken seriously," he added. The ministry announced its arrival to Iraq on Monday, saying several children had been infected with the variant strain of COVID-19.
Iraq's national health and safety committee on Saturday announced new restrictions on movement and social gatherings starting from Thursday, as the number of cases continues to rise.
A curfew will be in place from 8 pm to 5 am for two weeks from February 18, state media reported.
Schools, universities, salons, parks, wedding, and funeral venues and religious sites will be closed from February 15 until further notice, with schools and universities to return to virtual teaching.
Earlier this week, the Ministry of Education announced the postponement of mid-year exams until further notice. The ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
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.
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.
Coronavirus cases have spiked in Iraq beginning of this week, with 3,575 new cases and 12 deaths recorded on Wednesday. This brings the total number of registered cases to 653,557, and the total number of deaths to 13,204.
Baghdad signed a deal with Pfizer for 1.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in December. The vaccines are set to arrive by the end of this month.
Iraq will receive doses of the Chinese vaccine by the beginning of next week, Tamimi told state media on Tuesday.
