BAGHDAD, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Health Ministry on Monday reported 2,274 recoveries from coronavirus pandemic, which is the highest in a single day so far, bringing the total recoveries from the disease to 46,998.
It also confirmed that 2,229 new COVID-19 cases during the day, pushing the total nationwide infections to 79,735, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry also reported 100 more deaths during the day, raising the country's death toll from the infectious virus to 3,250 in the country, it added.
The new cases were recorded after 15,380 testing kits were used across the country during the past 24 hours, and a total of 698,012 tests have been carried out since the outbreak of the disease, according to the statement.
Separately, Talar Faiq, manager of Erbil airport, said in a press release that the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority announced it had extended a flight ban on commercial flights until July 22, as a precautionary measure to curb the further spread of COVID-19.
"The Iraqi crisis committee will hold a meeting to decide whether to resume the flights next week or not, depending on the health situation," Faiq said.
The Health Ministry frequently attributed the recent increase of COVID-19 infections to the lack of public compliance to the health instructions and the stronger testing capacity with the increase of labs in Baghdad and other provinces.
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, Iraq has been taking measures to contain the pandemic.
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 sent three batches of medical aid to Iraq. Enditem
