Shafaq News/ The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to overwhelm the Healthcare system in al-Sulaymaniyah, the top healthcare official in the Governorate said on Saturday, urging the citizens to seek medical care as soon as any symptoms of the pulmonary disease occur.

The head of al-Sulaymaniyah's Health Directorate, Sabah Hawrami, said in a press conference held today, "the situation is sliding toward more infections and rapid transmission. I urge the citizens to seek medical care whenever they develop any symptoms to rule out the disease."

Hawrami reiterated the importance of vaccination to avert the risk of contracting the virus, "95% of the patients are unvaccinated."

The Public Healthcare official instructed private hospitals and clinics to refrain from adopting protocols that the Directorate does not approve, warning of legal measures against the violators.

"Hospitals are full of patients. Abiding with the health instructions is a must," he concluded.

A spokesperson for the Iraqi Ministry of Health (MoH) warned of a third "deadlier" wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that might ravage the country.

A member of the media team of the Iraqi Ministry of Health, Dr. Roba Falah Hasan, told Shafaq News agency, "the entry of any variant to Iraq is not precluded."

"Iraq is susceptible to the rise of [COVID-19] case-counts and the immersion into a third wave at any moment...The Ministry has devised precautionary and preventive measures to prevent or halt the entry of new strains."

"Vaccines are protective against all the variants. It might not prevent the infection. However, it will definitely mitigate the severity and prevent death," Dr. Hasan said.

Cases of the Delta Variant of the Coronavirus causing COVID-19 have been detected in Kurdistan, the Region's Minister of Health, Saman Barzanji.

In a press conference held in Erbil earlier today, Thursday, Barzanji said, "Coronavirus infection rates have increased dangerously in the Kurdistan Region. The epidemiological situation index changed to dark orange in the Region, and proceeding toward red in the rest of Iraq."

The COVID-19 Inpatients have doubled in Kurdistan; he added, "only 5% had received the vaccine."