Iraq reports highest daily virus deaths since February

By Ali Jawad

BAGHDAD (AA) - Iraq on Wednesday confirmed 34 fatalities from the novel coronavirus pandemic, bringing the death toll to 426, which is the highest daily fatalities in the country since February.

The Health Ministry said 1,146 more cases have been recorded, taking the total infections to 15,414, while the number of recoveries reached 6,214.

Last May, the Iraqi government re-imposed a nationwide curfew to be valid until June 14, due to the recent spike in the infection rate.

Fears prevail in Iraq over the possible collapse of the health system in case the numbers continued to rise.

Iraq imposed a curfew for the first time on March 17, before easing its restrictions on April 21, when it permitted the population to roam around during daylight hours, except for nationwide curfews on Fridays and Saturdays.

The pandemic has claimed more than 412,000 lives in 188 countries and regions since originating in China’s Wuhan city last December. The US, Brazil and Russia are currently the worst-hit countries.

Over 7.27 million cases have been reported worldwide, while more than 3.39 million people have recovered so far, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.

* Bassel Ibrahim contributed to this report from Ankara