BAGHDAD, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Health Ministry reported on Sunday 2,554 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nationwide infections to 451,707.
The new cases included 716 in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, 331 in Erbil, 322 in Duhok, and Sulaimaniyah 175, while the other cases were detected in the other provinces, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry also reported 55 new deaths and 3,140 more recovered cases in the country, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 10,623 and the total recoveries to 381,349.
A total of 2,756,365 tests have been carried out across the country since the outbreak of the disease in February, with 16,687 done during the day, according to the ministry.
A member of the parliamentary health committee, Jawad al-Musawi, said in a statement that "Iraq is witnessing a decrease in COVID-19 infections during the last month, unlike the past few months in which the number of daily infections exceeded 5,000."
"Most of the citizens have become aware of the virus, and how to deal with it, and that this disease depends on the citizen's autoimmune," al-Musawi said.
"The Ministry of Health's procedures so far are good," al-Musawi said, adding that the ministry has taken precautionary measures by increasing the hospitals' capacity to deal with further increase in infections, in addition to providing the medicines needed to treat the infection with the virus, according to the statement.
Al-Mousawi expressed his fear of a possible second wave of a high number of infections within the next two months and expected re-imposing restriction measures, including the imposition of a partial curfew, especially in commercial areas, the statement added.
Iraq has taken a series of measures to contain the pandemic since February when the first coronavirus case appeared in the country.
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
