BAGHDAD, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported on Thursday 7,810 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total nationwide infections to 956,860.
The new cases included 2,632 in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, 1,101 in Basra, 647 in Diyala, 539 in Wasit, and 403 in Sulaimaniyah, while the other cases were detected in other provinces, the ministry said in a statement.
It also reported 49 new deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 14,885, while the total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 5,817 to 837,336.
A total of 8,690,527 tests have been carried out across the country since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020, with 46,299 done during the day.
It said that 14,339 people were vaccinated during the past 24 hours across the country, bringing the total number of people vaccinated to 197,914.
Meanwhile, the ministry warned of the daily increase in coronavirus infections, which may lead to the emergence of new strains of the virus.
Iraqi Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi told the official al-Sabah Newspaper that the "high number of infections that reached about 8,000 per day might lead to the emergence of new strains of coronavirus and, as a result, the health institutions could be unable to take in that high number of infections."
Al-Tamimi also attributed the increase of COVID-19 infections to the public's failure to comply with health-protective measures, the newspaper added.
Iraq has taken a series of measures to curb the recent rise in infections after the Health Ministry announced on Feb. 15 the detection of a new strain characterized by faster transmission and a higher level of severity.
The Iraqi National Board for Selection of Drugs has approved the emergency use of China's Sinopharm vaccines, in addition to the AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Sputnik V vaccines.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic in Iraq in 2020, the Chinese government has sent an experts team and batches of medical aid, including two shipments of COVID-19 vaccines, to the country to help combat the pandemic. Enditem
