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Iraq on Tuesday prevented travel to eight countries, including Britain and Iran, and prevented arrivals from those countries from entering its lands, and authorities closed land border ports for fear of the spread of the new strain of the Corona virus. .
And the Iraqi Council of Ministers banned trips to “Great Britain, South Africa, Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Iran and Japan” and barred their arrivals, with the exception of Iraqis, who saw forced to quarantine them for a period of 14 days.
Britain announced the emergence of a new strain of Corona virus, “more rapidly spreading and more capable of infecting” than the currently known strain, and UK health authorities said this strain is spreading widely in the country.
The World Health Organization showed interest in the news about the emergence of a “fierce” strain of the virus, but said that this strain is still “under control”, while the head of its emergency team, Wael Hatahat, confirmed that the new strain of the Corona virus had not appeared in Iraq after its appearance in Other countries, but did not rule out its appearance and spread in the future.
The Iraqi Council of Ministers said in a statement that Iraqis arriving in those countries will continue to be quarantined until it is proven that they do not have the disease and that “they will not be allowed to mix with others” until then.
The measures will continue “until the health, global and regional situation is clear for the spread of this strain.”
The government decided to close social facilities such as “restaurants, shopping centers and others” for a period of two weeks, starting next Thursday, and also announced the closure of all land border crossings, except in emergencies.
Iraq is mainly suffering from a major financial crisis due to the spread of the Corona virus, weak global demand for oil and its low prices.
He urged the Iraqi Council of Ministers to “wear masks and apply measures of social distancing and other forms of prevention,” while announcing the allocation of funds for a vaccine agreement with the US company Pfizer.
Iraq has allocated $ 3 million as a down payment on a $ 15 million deal to purchase the vaccine.
Official figures indicate that around 586,000 Iraqis have been infected with the Corona virus, around 50,000 of them are still receiving treatment, while more than 12,000 have died as a result of the virus infection.
Experts expect the actual numbers to be much higher than these numbers, especially since Iraq performs few controls relative to population.
