Kurdistan Region to undergo three-day Eid lockdown: interior ministry

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A full lockdown is to be implemented on the first day of Eid ul-Fitr for 72 hours across the Kurdistan Region, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) interior ministry has announced.

All businesses and public institutions will be closed over the three-day period, according to the interior ministry's Monday night announcement, with the exception of pharmacies. All traffic will be prohibited; only security and medical vehicles will be exempt from the ban.

It is unclear exactly when Eid ul-Fitr will begin, but is expected to commence on Saturday or Sunday.

An online system that allowed people to apply for permission to travel between Kurdistan Region provinces will be shut down from 3 pm on May 22 until 8 am on May 27.

Travel between the Kurdistan Region and Iraq will be banned from May 20 until June 1, while all border crossings and airports in Erbil and Sulaimani will be shut until June 1.

Anyone found to violate the lockdown will face legal procedures, the statement added. 

As new recordings of the virus recently began to fizzle out, the government gradually eased lockdown measures, allowing shops, mosques and churches to reopen their doors and non-essential traffic to run through the Region's roads. 

After seven days without a confirmed COVID-19 case, the KRG's health ministry announced last Wednesday that a 50-year-old from Sulaimani had contracted the virus.

The health ministry announced on Monday night that ten new coronavirus cases had been recorded in Sulaimani. Of the ten confirmed infected, there are six men, two women, and two teenagers - a 16-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy. 

To date, 414 cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in the Kurdistan Region, including five deaths and 383 recoveries. 

Cases in Iraq climbed to an unprecedented high daily count on Monday, with 150 infections confirmed in the 24 hours prior to this afternoon's annoucement. 

Amid the uptick in cases, Iraq's new health minister announced an upcoming complete lockdown on some areas of Baghdad.

Areas of Baghdad believed to play a role in spreading the virus will face a full lockdown as of Wednesday for a period of two weeks, health minister Hassan al-Tamimi said in a statement.

The areas lie in Baghdad’s peripheries and are mostly impoverished and over-crowded. They include Sadr City, Habibia, Hurriya, Shula, Ameria, and Kamalia.

Tamimi said in the statement the measures were taken in view of the rising number of cases in recent weeks and to stem the spread of the virus, according to the statement.

At least 123 people have died among 3,404 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Iraq including the Kurdistan Region, according to national health ministry statistics.  

The number of confirmed cases per day has risen since curfew hours were relaxed during the holy month of Ramadan from 5 pm to 5 am. Before curfew hours were relaxed, only 22-30 new infections were being reported daily.