COVID-19: 50 mortalities among healthcare personnel in Iraq

Shafaq News / Fifty members from the healthcare system personnel have lost their lives due to COVID-19, according to a statement by the Iraqi Ministry of Health. 

A spokesman for the ministry, Aso Huwaizi, told Shafaq News agency, "the Novel Coronavirus that causes COVID-19 virus has claimed the lives of 50 doctors and health personnel in the region", indicating, "more than 2,500 healthcare worker, including doctors, has caught the disease".

Huwaizi explained, "The highest rate was recorded in Erbil, where 100 of its healthcare personnel have caught the virus since the outbreak of the pandemic", noting, "Al-Sulaymaniyah recorded more than 750 cases, while Duhok 580 and Halabja recorded 15 cases".

Hawaizi added, "the status of the healthcare personnel who caught the virus is variable", noting, "Some of them are on mechanical ventilation, some of them are in intensive care unit, while some have achieved full recovery".

The Minister of Health in Kurdistan Region, Dr. Saman Al-Barzanji, diagnosed the reasons leading to the high mortality rate from the virus in the region.

Al-Barzanji posted earlier today on social media, "the wrong and confusing statements of citizens, refusing the health procedures and instructions and denying the existence of Coronavirus is the main reason for the high death rate from this disease".

This comes at a time when Kurdistan Region is witnessing an unprecedented surge in the infection rates of COVID-19, with more than 1000 cases over the past two days.