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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Baghdad – Asharq Al-Awsat

Iraqi Committee Demands Full Curfew to Contain COVID-19

Iraqi women wear protective face masks, following an outbreak of coronavirus, as they look at books at Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad, Iraq March 6, 2020. (Reuters)

An Iraqi parliamentary crisis committee on Monday demanded to re-impose full curfew after the end of Eid al-Fitr holiday to curb the latest increase of COVID-19 cases, as the authorities announced 163 new cases.

The committee warned of "a health disaster if people do not adhere to the preventive measures of the Ministry of Health and the curfew instructions," according to a statement by Ali al-Lami, a lawmaker and a member of the committee, which is tasked with following up the government measures to contain the outbreak of coronavirus.

Al-Lami called on the government "to take strict measures against those who violate the restrictions, and appealed to citizens to abide by the curfew and instructions issued by the Ministry of Health."

Also in the day, the Ministry of Health recorded 163 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections to 4,632 in the country.

Three of the infected people died during the day in Baghdad's hospitals, bringing the death toll in the country to 163, while 2,811 have recovered so far.

The new cases were recorded after 5,762 test kits were used across the country during the past 24 hours. A total of 194,447 tests have been carried out since the outbreak of the disease, according to the statement.

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