BAGHDAD, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The head of the Iraqi Medical Association, Abdul-Amir al-Shimmary, called on Sunday for imposing full curfew to contain the continuing increase of daily infections with coronavirus.
Al-Shimmary's comment came as the Iraqi Health Ministry recorded 2,140 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections nationwide to 45,402.
"As a result of the increase in coronavirus infections, it became very necessary to impose a full curfew with strict health measures for a period of no less than three weeks to reduce the number of infections," al-Shimmary said in a statement.
"Otherwise, we must accept huge loss of life, as well as the possibility of the collapse in health system and the subsequent chaos," al-Shimmary warned.
The ministry also confirmed 96 more deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 1,756 in the country.
A total of 21,122 patients have recovered from the disease.
The new cases were recorded after 10,595 testing kits were used across the country during the past 24 hours, and a total of 520,948 tests have been carried out since the outbreak of the disease, according to the statement.
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, Iraq has been taking measures to contain the pandemic.
On June 13, the Iraqi authorities decided to partially lift the nationwide curfew, but the full curfew will continue on Thursday, Friday and Saturday every week.
However, the continued increase of COVID-19 cases pushed some Iraqi provinces to re-impose full curfew, including Basra province and Maysan in southern Iraq.
China has been helping Iraq fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
From March 7 to April 26, a Chinese team of seven medical experts spent 50 days in Iraq to help contain the disease, during which they helped build a PCR lab and install an advanced CT scanner in Baghdad.
Since March 7, China has also sent three batches of medical aid to Iraq. Enditem
